


BIG Problem, Little Package

by cdreaiton



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Awesome Jane Foster, Awesome Phil Coulson, Bad Ending, Bath Time, Deaf Clint Barton, Disneyland, Dress Up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feels, Fluff, Home schooling, Humor, Kid Bruce, Kid Clint, Kid Natasha, Kid Steve, Kid Thor, Kid Tony, Magic, Multiple Endings, Nightmares, Parenthood, Past Child Abuse, Sickness, fear of needles, good ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 10:56:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8443189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cdreaiton/pseuds/cdreaiton
Summary: For a moment, Phil considers that it is entirely possible that he has gone completely mad. Because although the Avenger’s Mansion hasn’t been around for very long, he is 99.99% certain there have never been any children inside its walls. He is equally as certain that the tiny human currently attached to him is wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt, and has just called him ‘Daddy.’





	1. The Beginning of a Very Long Day

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, a couple quick notes to help some of this make sense.
> 
> Current relationships as they stand before the story starts:
> 
> Phil is with both Clint and Natasha. Jane is with Thor. Pepper is with Tony. Darcy and Bruce have just started dating, but nothing beyond that. Steve is currently single.
> 
> Nothing past The Avengers movie has happened. 
> 
> Everyone lives together in Avenger's Mansion, including Jane, Darcy, and occasionally Pepper, though she mainly lives in Malibu. Phil, who is alive, runs the San Francisco SHIELD office, but visits as often as he can.
> 
> THERE WILL BE NO SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH MINORS IN THIS STORY. But I put the 'M' rating because there will be innuendo, conversations about sexual things (between adults), and language.
> 
> This story will have fluff and adorableness, but there will also be feels and some minor plot going on in the background.

"Do you have any idea what it is?" Phil Coulson asks Stark Tower's resident astrophysicist.

"Honestly? No." Comes the response. Jane turns the strange yellow stone over in her hands, glaring at it slightly. "You said they found it in some kind of shipwreck?"

Phil nods.

"Off the coast of Namibia. Their best guess is it was some kind of slave ship." Phil shudders as he remembers the details from the report. "Most of the skeletons they recovered were children."

Jane pales as she sets the stone on one of the dozens of tables in the lab.

"Oh my god..." She whispers horrified. Phil nods again in agreement.

"Other than that stone, there wasn't anything else of interest discovered. Do you think it's dangerous?"

"It doesn't appear to be, but I'll ask Bruce to take a look at it when he and Tony get back from their briefing with Fury. You should go to the mansion. Clint's been practically bouncing up and down all day knowing you were coming into town.” Jane says, shooing him away with a knowing smile.

Phil briefly returns the smile before thanking her for her help and heading for the door.

***

“What’s this?” Tony asks, picking up the strange yellow stone from the lab table and bringing it up to his face to look at it a bit closer.

“It’s a rock, Tony.” Bruce answers with a slight smirk. Tony shoots him a mock glare.

“No kidding, Einstein. Where’d it come from?”

“Some of Coulson’s people found it in a shipwreck off Namibia. Jane asked me to look it over. But as far as I can tell it’s just a strangely colored rock that’s slightly radioactive.”

“How radioactive?” Tony asks. “Don't lose your temper radioactive, or wash your hands after you pee radioactive?”

Now it's Bruce’s turn to glare, though he knows there’s no malice behind Tony's words.

“Neither.” He grabs the stone out of Tony’s hands and places it back on the table. “Your reactor gives off more radiation than this thing. It’s just weird. Nothing more. Don’t you have a communication array or something you’re supposed to be working on?”

“Probably, but this is much more interesting.” Tony reaches for the rock again, undeterred.

Bruce sighs, and returns to his computer and the equations he’s running.

“Fine. Just don’t break it. Fury wants to lock it up in the vault just incase it’s some kind of alien bomb.”

“Fury thinks everything anyone finds is some kind of alien weapon of massive death and destruction.”

Bruce chuckles under his breath, but doesn't turn his attention away from the screen.

“That’s his job Tony.” He says blandly as Tony turns and heads for his own part of the lab, looking at the strange stone in fascination.

The stone is only interesting for about half an hour. Tony sighs to himself and flicks it, moving it only a few millimeters across his desk. Bruce had been right. It’s just a weird, if slightly irradiated, yellow sea rock. He goes back to working on the design for the new communication array they're going to put on the tower. When he decides to head home for the day, he slips the little stone into his pocket. He knows it isn’t dangerous, and messing with Fury never gets old.

They are all sitting in the living room of the mansion the next afternoon, relaxing and taking a break until the next call to assemble comes in. Clint and Natasha are on the floor, Clint’s head resting on her thighs while she leans against the couch. Steve and Bruce are on the couch, while Tony sits in one of the arm chairs. The other arm chair in the room is occupied by Mjolnir, as Thor is in the kitchen grabbing a snack. After the third or fourth time of returning to the living room and finding his seat stolen by one of his teammates, he had started using the hammer as a place holder to ensure his seat remained unoccupied until he returned. Jane had returned to the lab that morning as she had a time sensitive experiment she was working on, and Phil is currently borrowing Tony’s office in the tower for a video conference, and to finish up some paper work he’d had to bring with him. As the current topic of conversation dwindles, Tony pulls the stone out of his pocket and looks at it again.

“Tony, is that the stone you took from my lab yesterday?” Bruce asks, voice a mixture of humor and admonishment. “I told you to give it to Fury when you were done looking at it.”

“No you didn’t.” Tony says a bit smugly, giving his friend a big smile. “You told me not to break it, and that Fury wanted to lock it up. You never told me to give it to Fury.”

Bruce sighs and rubs his hands through his hair.

“You knew what I meant.”

“So what’s with the rock?” Clint inquires, turning to look at the two scientists.

“It’s just a weird rock some of Coulson’s people found in a shipwreck.” Bruce answers with another sigh. “It was giving off some slightly radiation, so they asked the lab to take a look at it.”

“Radiation?” Steve leans forward in his seat, raising an eyebrow at Tony. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It can be, yes.” Bruce says before Tony can answer the Captain’s question.

“And you brought it home?” There’s a little anger in Steve’s voice as he fixes Tony with a disapproving look. “Tony, it’s dangerous! You need to call Fury and have him come and pick it up before someone gets hurt.”

“Oh relax, Steve.” Tony comments drily, juggling the stone in his hands. “There’s barely enough radiation coming off this thing to light a match, let alone hurt anyone.”

“That’s not the point, Tony. The point is it could be dangerous, and you brought it home instead of giving it to Fury so it could be locked up.” Steve retorts aggravated.

“I just told you it _isn’t_ dangerous.” Tony fires back, irritation creeping into his voice.

“If it isn’t dangerous then why does Fury want to lock it up?” Steve nearly yells at Tony, the anger in his voice causing Thor to come back from the kitchen to see what his friends are fighting about now.

“Because Fury wants to lock everything up!” Tony yells back. “He’d probably lock all of us up if he didn’t need us to keep going out and saving the world every other week!”

Before Steve can respond, or any of the others can intervene in the fight they are all pretty certain is about to come to blows, the stone in Tony’s hand begins to glow. He drops it on the table, but before any of them can make a move, a blinding flash of light tears through the room, rendering them all unconscious.

***

Jane is deep in thought, focused on the experiment she’s running when JARVIS’s voice comes over the speaker.

“Dr. Foster, I believe there may be a problem at the mansion.”

Although the words alone are enough to take Jane’s mind instantly away from her experiment, it is the AI’s tone which causes a slight panic to start rising in her throat.

“What kind of problem JARVIS?” She asks worriedly.

“The Captain and Mr. Stark were arguing about a stone he’d brought home from the lab yesterday, when the stone began glowing. Then it gave off an intense flash of light, which has temporarily blinded my sensors. I am currently unable to detect any life signs.”

The slight panic turns into all out fear and Jane races to the parking garage, experiment forgotten. When she finally gets to the right level, she sees Phil running to his own car. Knowing JARVIS has delivered the same message to him, she makes a split second decision, and runs towards him. She gets in the passenger seat of his black SUV without saying a word. He barely spares enough time to glance at her before they are speeding out of the garage, SHIELD sirens blaring.

When they arrive at the mansion, the first thing they both notice is that it appears to still be in one piece. There’s no damage they can see, or debris of any kind on the lawn. Phil heads for the front door, hand on his gun, though he doesn’t draw it yet. Jane follows close behind him. He opens the door cautiously, stepping inside to take a brief look around the entry hall before waving her in. The house is quiet. Eerily quiet.

“Clint? Tasha?” Phil calls out before going farther into the house. It goes against most of the SHIELD bones in his body to break the silence before securing the rest of the house, but if the team has been attacked, and are still alive, he doesn’t relish the idea of walking into a room when someone might have caused Dr. Banner to lose control of his temper. Nor does he want to lead Jane into such a situation. And if they aren’t alive… well, then he’s going to be dead in a few seconds anyway. Anything that could take down The Avengers would have exactly zero problems taking him out. There is no answer.

“Thor? Are you here?” Jane asks, following Phil’s example. “Bruce?”

No answer.

“Stark? Captain? Is everything alright?” Phil tries.

No answer.

Phil exchanges a worried look with Jane. He is about to draw his gun when the soft sound of footsteps on carpet reaches their ears. Putting an arm in front of Jane, Phil listens carefully to the sound. The steps are light and close together. Of all of the mansions occupants, four of them have rather distinctive footfalls ranging from Tony’s light almost bounce like steps, to Thor’s rather loud and thunderous ones which announce his arrival long before he reaches the room he’s entering. The steps he hears belong to neither Stark nor Thor, nor to the Captain or Dr. Banner. And he knows from personal as well as professional experience, that even in the eerie silence of the house, he still wouldn’t hear either Clint or Natasha’s footsteps. Their silent movement is almost legendary at several SHIELD offices around the globe.

Having ruled out the only six people that should be in the house, Phil is left with only one option as to who the footsteps belong to. Taking a deep breath and steeling himself for whatever terrifying enemy is headed for them, Phil draws his weapon and aims it at the hallway entrance at shoulder height.

His aim, (which although it is nowhere near as good as the team’s resident archer’s, but is still above average for a field agent,) is much too high for the person that suddenly appears in the entry doorway. It takes both Jane and Phil a moment to process the appearance, because although they had been expecting something, the extremely young redheaded girl in jeans and a gray zippered sweater that rounds the corner is about as far from what they expected as one could get.

She looks at them for a moment, confusion in her face as she looks them both over in turn. Unsure of whether the young girl is dangerous or not (it honestly wouldn’t surprise him at this point), Phil lowers his gun, but doesn’t holster it, watching her closely as she looks them over. After a few seconds, her eyes seem to almost light up, and a giant smile breaks across her face.

“You’re back!” She exclaims, running forward and hugging Jane around the hips. “I knew you’d come home!”

Caught off guard by the sudden hug, Jane wraps her arms around the young girl’s shoulders, shooting Phil a look of confusion and concern. He shrugs his shoulders in a very un-Phil manner, but he’s just as confused as she is. He holsters his weapon as the girls pulls back from Jane, just in time for her to grab both his and Jane’s hands and start pulling them towards the living room. When she is certain they are following, she lets them go and runs into the living room.

“They’re back! Mommy and Daddy are back!”

Phil nearly trips over his own feet and Jane stops in her tracks at this declaration. Their exchanged glances now of horror and apprehension, the two walk into the large living room, terrified of what awaits them.

The room looks exactly like it had when they had both left for the tower earlier that morning. All of the furniture is intact and unmoved, the ridiculously large flat screen is still in its mount on the wall, and the bookshelves in the corners are undisturbed. Nothing seems out of place. Well… almost nothing.

Four rather small children are standing in the center of the room, staring at them. There is the redheaded girl who led them in, and, rather unorthodoxly, announced their presence, and three boys. Two blonds, one of whom is much smaller than the other, and a brunette. Recognition lights up their eyes, and they all smile at the adults.

“Welcome back, Daddy!” The brunette says excitedly, running forward and plowing into Phil, hugging him tightly around the thighs.

For a moment, Phil considers that it is entirely possible that he has gone completely mad. Because although the Avenger’s Mansion hasn’t been around for very long, he is 99.99% certain there have _never_ been any children inside its walls. He is equally as certain that the tiny human currently attached to him is wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt, and has just called him ‘Daddy.’ After several very long and awkward seconds, Phil looks down at the small child.

“Tony?” He nearly croaks, his mouth having gone dry as his brain starts connecting the giant morass of dots he and Jane have just walked in to.

The brunette head shoots up, dark brown eyes sparkling with joy and innocence.

“Yes, Daddy?”

“Um…” Phil starts ineloquently, clearing his throat roughly before trying again. “Where are the others?”

The little child, who has now been impossibly identified as Tony, points at the other children, who are still standing in the center of the room staring at Phil and Jane. Phil looks at the girl who led them in.

“Natasha?”

She nods and smiles at him, which is more than a little disconcerting coming from the master assassin, no matter how small and cute she is. Before he can continue on to the other two boys standing in the room, whose identities he is fairly certain he already knows, there is a tugging on his belt. He looks down and sees Tony trying to climb him. He lifts the small child into his arms, a bit surprised when thin legs wrap around his waist and equally thin arms go around his neck.

“Did you have a good day at work, Daddy? Are you done now? Can we play?” Tony’s soft voice is muffled by Phil’s suit jacket.

The questions startle Phil for a minute, and he isn’t quite sure what to say. He’s still not entirely sure what’s going on, and as far as he can see, there are only four children in the living room, which leaves two of them unaccounted for. But there is a hint of longing and desperation in Tony’s voice, and he just can’t bring himself to break the illusion of parenthood that seems to be a side-effect of whatever has done this to his friends. So he runs with the role he’s been thrust into, and puts as much caring into his voice as he can when he speaks.

“In a minute, Tony. We need to check on everyone first, okay?” He rubs Tony’s back in what he hopes is a calming manner, and feels the small head nod a little into his shoulder.

Jane has been watching the little scene with Tony unfold, her mind still trying to wrap around what appears to have happened, and looks over at the two blond boys. Recovering slightly from her shock, she takes a few halting steps towards them.

“Steve? T-thor?” She tries to keep her voice from cracking, but the sheer absurdness of the situation won’t allow it.

The smaller boy, whom she assumes is Steve, slowly walks over to her and gives her legs a quick hug.

“Welcome home, Mommy.”

His voice is so soft and frail sounding, she can’t help but lean down and pick him up, resting him on her hip and letting him lay his head on her shoulder.

“Welcome home, Mi’Lord. Mi’Lady.” Thor greets them, bowing slightly at the waist. Jane’s shoulders relax ever so slightly, glad that at least he doesn’t think Phil and Jane are his parents.

“Where are Clint and Bruce?” Phil asks calmly, though Jane can hear the worry underneath.

“They ran into the kitchen when sister Natasha said you were home, Sir.” Thor offers.

“Thank you, Thor.” Says Phil, before turning to the bundle in his arms. “Tony? Can you sit on the couch for a moment while I go find Clint and Bruce?” Tony clings tighter to him and Phil sighs. “Okay. Why don’t we go find them together?”

He glances at Jane, who nods at his silent question and takes Steve over to the couch, where she is quickly joined by an enthusiastic Natasha. Fairly certain Jane can handle herself for a few moments, and that there is no imminent danger, Phil heads to the kitchen with his small passenger.

A cursory glance around the kitchen shows no signs of either Clint or Bruce, small or other wise. So he checks the pantry, making sure to clear each shelf, and even looks behind several of the large appliances they keep there. As an adult, Clint is practically impossible to find if he doesn’t want to be, and can fit into ridiculously small spaces. As a child… Phil tries not to think about it too hard.

Finding neither boy in the pantry, Phil kneels and starts slowly opening all the cabinets. He goes slowly for two reasons. The first, is because there is always a chance that what he’ll find might not be one of the boys he’s searching for, and he’s still not sure what exactly has caused the current situation. And the second… Phil closes his eyes tightly for a brief moment, reining in the anger that is threatening to overwhelm him. He’s never spoken to Clint about his childhood in great detail or at great length, but he knows his lover’s step-father had been an abusive drunk. If Clint has been regressed like the others, there’s a good chance he ran and hid in terror when Natasha had announced that Daddy was home.

As he touches one of the cabinet handles, he hears a soft gasp, and a terrified whimper that nearly breaks his heart. Carefully, so as not to startle the cabinet’s occupant, he opens the door, making sure to lean back and not crowd the small doorway. He peers inside and sees two sets of eyes staring back at him from amongst the pots and pans, their terror evident. His heart twinges again. He’d expected the fear from Clint, but seeing it from Bruce as well hurts just as much. He feels like he’s violated the quiet man’s privacy. Putting on his best kind smile, he opens the door a little further, scooting back a bit to give the boys plenty of room to get out.

“Hey there,” He starts, keeping his voice as soft and gentle as he can, as though he’s speaking to a small frightened animal, which he supposes isn’t too terribly far from the truth, “That doesn’t look like a very fun place to play. Why don’t you boys come out and say hello? Mommy’s in the other room with Steve and Natasha and Thor. I’m sure they miss you and want you to come play with them. Isn’t that right, Tony?” Phil asks the brown mop of hair that is still nestled into his neck.

Tony lifts his head and turns to face the two hidden boys.

“It’s safe now. Mommy and Daddy are home, so the scary light can’t get us anymore.” Tony says encouragingly. “Come play with us.”

For a few seconds, neither boy moves. Then a head of spiky light brown hair eases out. Phil doesn’t move, staying as still and as non-threatening (he hopes) as possible. Grey blue eyes meet his, and he sees the same small flash of recognition as he had with the other four. Clint, for who else could it be, finishes pulling himself from the cabinet and then immediately turns and reaches out a hand to help Bruce out, noticing when Bruce’s eyes show the same flash as Clint’s had a few moments earlier. He makes a mental note to mention it to medical once he has a chance to call them. Once both boys have exited the cabinet, Phil stands and offers his hand to Clint, keeping the other firmly locked around Tony’s waist. Tentatively, Clint takes the hand, and, taking one of Bruce’s in his own, allows Phil to lead them into the living room.

Once they see her, both boys sprint over to sit on the couch with Jane, who has Steve in her lap and Natasha settled against her side, Phil sits in one of the arm chairs, (noticing out of the corner of his eye that the other one is occupied with Mjolnir,) settling Tony in his own lap.

“Alright,” Phil starts, looking at each of the children in turn, “Now that everyone’s here, can you tell me what the last thing you remember is? Tony said something about a scary light.”

“There was a big, scary flash, like in a thunderstorm.” Steve supplies quietly.

“It came from this strange yellow stone.” Thor adds, pointing to the coffee table where the stone Phil had taken to Jane the day before sits unassumingly.

“Do you remember anything from before the light?” Jane asks.

Six heads shake in negation at her question.

“All I know is our names, and that this is home. And then when I saw you, I knew you were Mommy and Daddy.” Natasha offers, the others nodding in agreement.

“Did the rock make us have the amnesia?” Bruce inquires, startling both Phil and Jane slightly at his use of the advanced word.

“It might have. We’ll need to have a doctor come and look at all of you to make sure the light didn’t hurt you, okay?” Phil informs them.

Jane shoots Phil a look that is part fear and part confusion, but all he can do in answer is shrug helplessly and share the look.

“I know that I am not of this realm.” Thor says suddenly, “I am from Asgard. Odin, the king, is my father and Frigga is my mother. I believe I am on Midgard. And, like sister Natasha, I knew you to be my guardians when I saw you enter.”

Phil sends up a small prayer of thanks that Thor’s Asgardian biology seems to have kept him from completely losing his memory like the others. But before Phil can think on it any longer, a small grumbling sound interrupts the relative silence of the room. Several heads turn to look at Bruce, the source of the sound. Nervous at the sudden attention, Bruce pulls his knees up and curls around himself as though trying to keep his stomach from interrupting again. Phil smiles at him reassuringly.

“Sounds like some food might be in order.” He glances at his watch. It’s just after two in the afternoon. “No wonder! It’s long past time for lunch. Why don’t you guys go in the kitchen with Mommy while she makes you all something to eat?”

A loud chorus of “yay’s” follow, and the six tiny Avengers hurriedly run into the kitchen. Jane and Phil both stand once their laps are no longer occupied, and Jane goes to Phil’s side.

“Mommy? Daddy?” She asks in an incredulous whisper.

“Apparently.” Phil sighs, running a shaky hand through his hair. “Just… play along with it for now. If we deny the relationship it might… damage them, and their trust in us. And at the moment we have no idea how this happened or how long it’s going to last, so we need them to trust us. At least, as much as they can.”

Jane doesn’t have a degree in psychology, and she’s never really spent much time around children, even when she was one herself. But she doesn’t need either of those things to know that unless Clint and Bruce had already been hiding in the kitchen when the stone went off, (which might be a possible explanation for Clint, but she knows for a fact that Bruce isn’t overly fond of tight spaces,) there is only one reason why such small children would run and hide from their parents. Her stomach rolls at the implication. Gently, she places a hand on Phil’s arm, offering silent comfort. Phil places a hand over the top of hers and gives her a sad smile.

“Mommy! We’re hungry!” Tony calls from the kitchen impatiently, interrupting the moment.

With a sigh that is partially still confusion and partial to steel her resolve, Jane goes into the kitchen to see what she can make for six hungry children, briefly wondering if anyone has gone to the store recently.

Once Jane has stepped away, Phil pulls out his phone and calls Fury, trying to figure out the best way to tell the man that his little world-saving team is… well… little.

“Report. Tell me they’re still breathing, Coulson.” Fury’s characteristically gruff voice answers after the first ring.

“They’re still breathing, Sir.” Answers Phil with a little smile in his voice. They are, after all, breathing.

“Glad to hear it. Any injuries? Do you need a medical team?”

Phil searches his mind to see if he’s ever been trained on how to handle reporting a sudden physical reversion to childhood to a superior. He hasn’t. And his normally calm, collected thoughts are still trying to recover from the sudden parenthood that’s been thrust upon him, and refuse to supply any assistance. So he does the only thing he can do. Answer the questions.

“No injuries, Sir, though they’re a little rattled. As for the medical team…”

His report is interrupted by Tony running back into the living room and pulling on Phil’s sleeve.

“Daddy! Mommy’s making waffles! And it’s not even breakfast!”

“That’s great, Tony! I’ll come join you in a minute. As soon as I’m done talking to my boss, okay?” Phil says warmly, ruffling the boy’s hair.

“Okay! But you gotta hurry or they’ll all be gone.” With a smile that Phil is fairly certain could power a small city, Tony turns and runs back to the kitchen, not wanting to miss out on the exciting development of having breakfast for lunch.

Phil turns his attention back to his phone call, and is unsurprised to find silence coming from the other end. It is short lived.

“Coulson?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“What the hell was that?” Fury’s voice is deathly calm, in a way Phil knows well. Fury’s voice only adopts this particular tone when a situation has surpassed the man’s infamous anger and put him dangerously close to actual fear.

“That, Sir, was Tony informing me that Jane has apparently decided to make waffles for lunch.” 

Phil knows he’s being quite a bit more flippant than the situation calls for, (as it doesn’t call for flippancy at all,) but if he’s being honest with himself, he’s more worried now than he was when he’d walked through the front door less than twenty minutes ago thinking everyone he cared about was dead.

“Tony?” Fury asks after a few more seconds of silence. “As in…?”

“Stark. Yes, Sir. It appears as though the strange flash that rendered JARVIS temporarily blind, in a manner of speaking, was some sort of energy pulse that has regressed the team back to childhood.”

More silence.

“All of them?” There is really worry starting to show through Fury’s voice at Phil’s revelation.

“Yes, Sir. And although they don’t appear to have suffered any physical _harm_ , they have no memories beyond their own names. Except Thor. He knows who he is and where he’s from, at least. They do still seem to have their personalities intact, though. Well, not their adult personalities. And they seem to think Jane and I are their parents. Hence the ‘Daddy’.”

“Stay there. I’m sending Selvig. This goes beyond classified, and I can’t risk a medical team. Lock down the mansion. If there’s any chance this… whatever it is might spread…” Though there is still worry lacing his words, Fury’s tone is back to his baseline angry normal.

“Understood, Sir.” Phil responds before Fury can finish.

“Call me immediately if anything changes.”

Fury hangs up before Phil can respond to his final order, but after countless years working for SHIELD, he’s use to Fury’s rather abrupt mannerisms. With a sigh, he puts his phone back in his jacket pocket.

“JARVIS? Lock down the mansion. Level one. And set the security functions so that Dr. Foster and I are the only ones with access.”

“Yes, Sir.” The AI replies in his normal, neutrally accepting tone, unfazed by the fact that his creator is now a child.

There is a soft, nearly inaudible hiss as the locks on every window and exterior door are locked and sealed. The self-contained ventilation system switches on, pumping clean air into the now airtight building. Phil doesn’t worry about their oxygen running out. Tony designed the system specifically so that all of the mansion’s occupants could live inside for weeks if need be without releasing the lock down should they be hit with some sort of unknown disease or bioweapon. Phil smiles ruefully, doubting the genius ever planned for it to be used for this type of contingency.

The smell of freshly made waffles and syrup bring him out of his thoughts. He straightens his suit jacket, more out of habit than anything else, and heads into the kitchen, resisting the urge to sigh in exasperation when Natasha starts complaining that Thor is stealing all the food.

Six miniaturized superheroes. It’s going to be a long day.


	2. Medical Exams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Life, busy, all that jazz. But, here it is! I hope you like it!

Erik Selvig thought that being brainwashed by an alien prince into building a portal that allowed an invading alien army to nearly destroy New York City was the strangest thing to ever happen to him. He was wrong.

The phone call from Fury had been cryptic at best, but he’d grabbed the portable medical lab Tony and Dr. Banner had made for him and rushed to Avenger’s Mansion as quickly as he could. It was rare that SHIELD called on his medical expertise in a situation. Fury had entire teams devoted to the area of medicine, and Erik is happy sticking to astrophysics and ignoring his medical degree altogether.

When he steps through the entryway-turned-airlock of the mansion, he is greeted by Phil Coulson, who looks a bit haggard despite his usual smile.

“Thank you for coming Dr. Selvig,” he says politely.

“Fury said you have a situation?” Selvig asks, hoping Phil will give him some details.

“You could say that.”

Phil turns and heads into the living portion of the mansion, Erik following close behind him with his bag. When they enter the living room, seven heads swivel to face them, and Erik stops dead in his tracks. Sympathetic with the shock of seeing what’s happened, Phil gives him moment to let his mind process what he’s seeing. The moment doesn’t last long, as Tony jumps down from the large arm chair and runs over to Phil, hands up-stretched in the universal sign for ‘I want to be picked up now.’ Phil stifles a sigh. He’d barely managed to convince the little genius to stay in the living room while he’d answered the door. The kid has been sticking to him like a leech since they’d first walked through the door. But he obliges and picks Tony up, holding him on his hip and giving the top of his head a quick kiss when the brunette head lays against his shoulder.

“Tony? Can you say hello to Dr. Selvig?” Phil prods gently.

Tony peeks out from Phil’s shoulder just enough to make eye contact.

“Hello. Daddy said you have to check us and make sure the weird light didn’t hurt us.”

Erik blinks rapidly at the small boy several times, trying to decide if what he’s seeing is real or some kind of bizarre hallucination. He looks at Phil in question, swallowing heavily when Phil nods slightly, and turning back to Tony.

“That’s right, Tony. I’m just going to run a few tests with my kit here.” Erik holds up the bag in his hand to show the boy.

“We should probably start with Steve.” Phil comments before Tony can start asking any questions. “His breathing has been sounding a little labored. Nothing serious, but I’d like you to take a look at him first just in case it turns into something serious. You can go ahead and set up in the library. First door on your right down that hallway there.”

Selvig nods and heads for the specified room, trying not to stare at the children as they watch him leave. He’d expected to see some strange and unexplainable things when he joined SHIELD, but this… this is so far outside what he’s always thought of as the realm of possibility, he’s still not sure it’s real.

Setting his bag on one of the library’s tables, Erik takes a moment to try and process what he’s just seen. Because it isn’t just the strangeness of the situation that’s getting to him. It’s worry, and confusion… and fear. The children in the other room are his friends and colleagues, yes, but they are also the people the world relies on to keep the entire world safe. Without them around… Erik blocks out the memory of hordes of invaders swamping the streets of New York, leaving nothing but death and destruction in their wake. And it doesn't help matters that two of the people he would call on to help him solve this problem are currently a _part_ of that problem. Erik sighs briefly, then squares his shoulders, determined to do everything he can to help the Avengers return to their adult selves.

***

While Jane puts on a movie for the kids, Phil gently sets Tony back in the armchair.

“I need you to be good and stay here with the others while Mommy and I talk with the doctor, okay?” Phil says, keeping this tone serious, but no less kind.

“Okay.” Tony agrees a little sadly. Phil gives him another quick kiss on the forehead.

Jane finishes starting the movie, (suddenly grateful that the adult Tony had put the entirety of the Disney and Pixar libraries on JARVIS’ servers,) and gently picks Steve up from where he’s been sitting on the couch. He’d started wheezing a little just after they’d eaten lunch, and although it hasn’t been getting worse, his difficulty breathing worries both Jane and Phil.

Phil gives Jane a minute to collect Steve, smiling when she holds him close for a moment to try and help calm his nerves a bit, and goes into the library to speak with Erik.

“How did this happen?” Erik asks as soon as Phil enters the room.

“The kids said they saw a bright light from this strange stone we found in a shipwreck last week, that Tony apparently decided to bring home, and JARVIS confirmed that they were adults before the flash and children after. As to what the stone is or how it did this… I have no idea.” Phil shrugs heavily, running a hand through his hair.

“Magic seems the most likely explanation.” Selvig says with a sigh, which Phil copies. “I’ll need to take some blood samples. I take it they don’t have any of their memories?”

“No,” answers Phil, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck absently. “Their personalities from when they were younger _seem_ to be intact, but they have no idea who they are. And they think Jane and I are their parents. There was this strange… almost flash of recognition when they saw us. And right after, we were Mommy and Daddy.”

“That would make sense. They’ve imprinted on you. Like chickens.” 

Erik starts pulling equipment out of his bag and Phil raises an eyebrow at him.

“Chickens?”

“Yes. The chicks imprint on the first adult hen they see after they’re born. Even if that hen isn’t actually their biological mother. If this… age magic erased all of their memories when it made them children, they would naturally imprint on the first adults they saw, almost like a survival instinct.”

“Well then.” Phil exhales loudly, with a smile. “I suppose we should be glad Fury didn’t come to check on them.”

Selvig chuckles as he finishes sorting his equipment.

“Do we know if any of them retained any of their abilities?”

“We don’t know. Steve’s size and breathing problems seem to indicate he no longer has the serum in him, and Thor was unable to move Mjolnir from the armchair where his adult self left it before this happened. He told us that he ‘is not yet old enough to wield the mighty hammer.’ I’d like to do a few subtle tests with each of the others. See if any of the abilities they were born with are still present.” Phil answers.

“That should be easy enough.” Erik agrees amicably.

“And Erik…” Phil takes a deep breath, steadying himself for what he has to say next. “A few of them had… unpleasant childhoods. Specifically Clint, and apparently Bruce, and I’m beginning to suspect Tony as well. So we need to approach them with caution. No sudden movements or raised voices. And we need to keep up the illusion this… spell or whatever it is, has put on them.”

“Understood.”

***

**Steve**

Jane clenches her hands together when Phil helps Steve remove his shirt, (which had shrunk when he had, along with the other children’s.) The blond boy is so skinny she can see nearly all of his ribs, and he has no muscle to speak of. It’s hard for her to imagine that someone so small had become the well muscled power house that leads the Avengers.

Steve sits patiently on one of the library tables while Selvig listens to his heart and lungs. He follows the pen without moving his head, and smiles a bit when his legs seem to jump of their own accord. He doesn’t even flinch when Erik takes several vials of blood. His silence worries both Phil and Jane a bit, but they both chock it up to the fact the Steve is simply well behaved, which, of all the children, isn’t surprising. The last thing Selvig does is pull a metal bar from his bag and has Steve grip it as tightly as he can.

Once Selvig is finished, Jane helps the young boy redress himself. He’s still wheezing a bit, so Jane carries him back out into the living room to watch the movie with the others before returning to hear Erik’s results.

“He’s got Reactive Airway Disease, what we use to call childhood asthma.” Erik starts as soon as Jane rejoins them and closes the door. “It doesn’t seem to be serious, but he’ll need a rescue inhaler. I’ll have one sent over from medical as soon as I get back.”

“Is he going to be okay until then?” Jane asks worriedly.

“Yes. The trouble he’s having at the moment is most likely due to the body’s stress from the sudden change. It should calm down in about thirty minutes or so. Have him sit with his hands above his head, that’ll help open his lungs a bit.” Erik instructs the two suddenly new parents.

“Should we worry about asthma attacks? Try and keep him from too much physical activity?” questions Phil.

“I’ll send over a nebulizer along with the inhaler. If he has a really bad attack, you’ll need it. And I wouldn’t be concerned with his activity levels too much. Let him play and do whatever the others are doing, but remind him that if he starts to have trouble breathing, he needs to stop, even if he doesn’t want to,” when both Jane and Phil nod, he continues, “The grip test I performed was… surprising. Even for a child of his age, which from my examination appears to be around five, his grip should be much stronger than it is. The blood tests will be more conclusive, but I suspect Steve may have a protein deficiency as well. That’s why he doesn’t seem to have much energy, and why his muscle mass is so low. Even at this young of an age and missing the serum, he should have more muscle than he has now. So I’d recommend you increase the amount of protein he eats at meals and snacks. I’ll send you some information on high protein foods.”

“Will the increase be alright for the other children as well, or…” asks Jane, already thinking of different foods and meals she can make.

“It won’t effect the others. Just make sure and keep the meals balanced.”

Jane smiles and nods in understanding, then goes to bring in the next child.

***

**Thor**

“I do not believe the strange light has hurt me, good healer,” Thor proclaims when Erik asks him to take off his shirt and sit on the table, “I do not feel unwell like brother Steve.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Thor. But I’d still like to take a blood sample if that’s alright. Make sure there aren’t any strange readings or anything that could hurt you later.” Erik responds with a bit of a smile when Thor nods in agreement with this assessment.

He glances at Jane out of the corner of his eye while he grabs his supplies. She’s standing by the door, arms wrapped around herself. He can’t imagine how difficult the whole situation must be for her, but he’s known her for a long time, and is constantly impressed by her ability to handle difficult situations. He makes a mental note to speak to Phil before he leaves, then turns back to Thor.

“Thor, since I’m not as well versed in Asgardian biology, I’m going to ask you a few questions that might seem strange, alright?” asks Selvig as he preps Thor’s arm for the blood draw.

“Very well, Healer Selvig, I shall answer your questions. What do you wish to know?”

“When the light flashed, did you feel any thing strange? Any tingling in your arms and legs?”

Thor contemplates the question for a moment, cocking his head to the side in a way that is so like his adult self it makes Jane’s heart twinge painfully.

“There was no ‘tingling’ like you have spoken of, but for a moment when I awoke, I felt as though… I did not fit in my body. As though I had grown, and my body was now too small. It was quite odd, but it lasted no more than a moment. Does that help you?” Thor inquires curiously.

“It does,” says Erik, pulling the needle from Thor’s arm, “Thank you. Now, it’s my understanding that Asgardians are much stronger than people from Earth. Is that true even of the children?”

Thor nods and hops down from the table. He quickly crawls underneath it, and, placing his hands on the underside, stands, lifting the table above his head with seeming ease. All three of the adults raise their eyebrows at the demonstration. Seeing that his evidence has been accepted, Thor lowers the table and crawls back out to face the adults.

“I am afraid I can only lift small things like furniture, as I am yet only five years of age. I am not yet strong enough to do much more than that.” Thor comments with a slight blush, seeming almost embarrassed.

“That’s quite alright,” interjects Phil, placing a hand on Thor’s shoulder, “You did a very good job. And I’m sure you’ll be much stronger when you get older.”

Thor smiles widely and follows Phil into the living room. Erik goes to Jane and puts a comforting arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug.

“We’ll fix this, Jane,” he whispers, hoping he sounds more convinced than he feels, “I promise.”

***

**Natasha**

Natasha, who up until this point has been very excited and outgoing, cowers behind Phil when he brings her into the library. Erik kneels down and reaches out a hand to her.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he starts, keeping his voice pitched low and calm, trying not to scare the girl, “I’m Dr. Selvig. I’m just going to take a quick look at you to make sure you aren’t hurt anywhere, okay?”

“Steve said you poked him with a needle,” Natasha whispers moving away from Selvig, “I don’t wanna get poked.”

Phil kneels and turns to Natasha, putting his hands on her shoulders.

“Dr. Selvig needs to take a blood sample so he can check to make sure nothing’s wrong with you on the inside. It’ll only hurt a little bit, and only for a second, I promise.”

After a moment, Natasha nods and allows Phil to help her onto the table. She holds his hand the entire time Erik is drawing blood, and smiles when he pulls an Avengers band-aid from his case to put on her arm (Tony had put them in as a joke.) Uncertain of how to test a five year old for assassin like abilities, Erik looks at Phil for assistance. Phil nods in understanding.

“Natasha,” he says quietly, squeezing the small hand in his own, “We need to do a test to check you balance now. Will you come with us to the gym and walk across the balance beam?”

“I love the balance beam!” Natasha agrees immediately, jumping down from the table and racing to the door.

Phil smiles brightly at her enthusiasm and motions for the others to follow her. When they reach the gym, Natasha is already climbing onto the balance beam that takes up half of one side of the large room. Jane excuses herself from watching, and goes to check on the other children. Erik takes a seat on one of the weight benches to watch, while Phil goes to stand near enough to Natasha that he can catch her if she falls.

She doesn’t. She walks one direction, spins, and walks the other. Then she does a single cartwheel. It’s unsteady, so Phil only lets her do one, pulling her off the beam and into a hug which she excitedly returns.

“Did I do good, Daddy?” her bright voice asks when he sets her down.

“You did wonderful, sweetheart. I’m very proud of you,” Phil praises her, running a hand through her hair and giving her a soft kiss on the top of her head.

***

**Tony**

When Phil hears running footsteps coming down the hallway, he turns from where he’d been speaking with Erik about the children’s tests so far, just in time to catch the small form that launches at him and pulls him close. Tony’s clinginess has been worrying him since he and Jane first walked through the door, even more so since it hasn’t been getting any better with time. The little genius is only really happy when he’s being held, or sitting on someone’s lap. Phil resolves to have some advanced robotics kits sent to the house first thing in the morning, provided Tony’s intellect is still intact, for him to focus his attention on.

He sets Tony on the table and helps him take off his shirt. The arc reactor is no longer protruding from Tony’s chest, which is both a comfort, and a worry. If it had been present, the health complications it could have on a five year old could be dire, but they also can’t be certain that it will return once they’ve figured out a way to reverse whatever magic has been done to the Avengers. Phil gives Tony a quick kiss on the forehead, and holds his hand while Erik begins the check-up.

“Alright Tony, I need to tie this weird piece of rubber around your arm so I can take some blood for some tests.” Selvig informs the brunette.

“It’s called a tourniquet, not a weird piece of rubber. What kind of doctor doesn’t know what a tourniquet is called?” Tony snarks, scrunching up his face in what appears to be disgust.

Phil and Jane both stifle a laugh while Erik glares at the boy, though he can’t suppress his own smile.

“That’s a very big word, Tony, and you’re right,” Selvig comments, tying the tourniquet around Tony’s upper arm, “It is a tourniquet. But most children your age don’t know what that means, so I use smaller words so they can understand.”

“Well, you don’t have to do that with me. I’m _a lot_ smarter than all the other kids. Except maybe Bruce. He’s super smart, just like me!” Tony says happily, smiling at no one in particular.

Erik smiles at the boy while he takes the blood samples, and Phil runs a hand through Tony’s hair. When the tests are completed, Phil caves to Tony’s desire to be picked up once again, and carries him into the living room, setting him next to Steve.

***

**Clint**

Phil leaves the living room, trying not to let the way both Clint and Bruce had flinched when he’d entered get to him. Jane gives his arm a brief squeeze before she holds out a hand and leads Clint into the library.

Jane sets him on the table, making sure to keep ahold of his hand. When he leans into her at the sight of Erik’s supplies, she wraps an arm around his thin shoulders and gently turns his face to look at hers.

“Clint, honey,” she says gently, stroking his cheek to try and calm the boy’s frazzled nerves, “the doctor needs to take a little bit of your blood so he can make sure the light didn’t hurt you in places we can’t see. It’ll hurt for just a second, but then it will be over. I’m going to hold your hand the whole time, okay?”

When Clint nods, she gives him a smile and grips his hand a little tighter. Erik doesn’t try and talk to Clint, not wanting to inadvertently startle the boy, and he is as gentle as he can possibly be when doing the exam. Once the basic parts are finished, Erik looks at Jane.

“I’m not certain how proceed. Should we… have him throw a rock at a soda can?” Selvig asks, unsure.

Clint looks at Erik and Jane in confusion, but before Jane can answer, Phil interjects from where he’s been standing by the doorway.

“I think I know of a much easier way. Jane, take Clint over to the window.”

Confused, Jane picks Clint up and carries him over to the window, then looks at Phil to see what he wants her to do next. Cautiously, Phil goes to stand next to Jane. Clint curls in on himself a bit, but Phil just smiles at him and points out the window.

“Hey, Clint?” he starts, pleased when Clint looks at him and there is only a little fear in his eyes, “Do you see that billboard out there?”

Clint looks in the direction Phil is pointing then turns back.

“Yes, Daddy,” he says in a tiny voice.

“Good! Can you tell me what it says?” Phil asks.

Jane looks at Phil as though he’s grown an extra head. She looks out the window at the billboard Phil has indicated. She can barely tell it’s a billboard, never mind being able to actually _read_ what’s written on it. When she turns back and sees him still smiling, she glares at him, but he just continues to smile at her.

Clint watches the exchange, worry in his eyes. Angry at Phil, but not wanting to upset the boy in her arms, Jane smiles at Clint and nods.

“Go ahead and read it, sweetie.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Clint agrees, and turns his attention back to the distant billboard.

After a moment, (during which Jane glares daggers at Phil and tries to figure out why he’s decided to humiliate his scared five year old former lover,) Clint turns back to his new parents.

“Dunn and Dunn, Attorneys at Law. We won’t stop until we’re done. (212) 555-DUNN,” he says, so quietly they almost miss it.

The room is silent as Jane and Erik stare in wonder at the small boy for several long seconds in shock. Clint looks at each of the adults in turn before settling on Phil, who is giving him a huge smile.

“Did I do it right? Was that okay, Daddy?”

“You did _perfect_ , baby boy. I am so very, very proud of you,” Phil desperately wants to pat Clint on the head, but he knows the gesture would not be well received, and when Clint’s face lights up at the praise, he can’t even contemplate wanting to ruin that beautiful look.

“Do you still want me to do the rock thing?” Clint asks, looking at Jane and Selvig.

Jane recovers first.

“No, honey. That’s alright. You already did a very good job reading that sign. Why don’t you go back with the others and watch the movie?”

She manages to keep most of the awe and confusion from her voice, and sets Clint on the floor, watching in amazement as he runs out into the living room. She turns to Phil.

“Wha…? How…?” She stutters.

“That’s… he must have close to 100/20 vision. Maybe even 150/20!" Selvig exclaims quietly, “That must be why the adult Clint is such a good shot. He can see better than anyone else I’ve ever met!”

“Oh, as an adult his vision isn’t even close to 100/20," Phil comments a little smugly. Jane and Erik turn to look at him at this statement, “It’s much closer to 300/20.”

***

**Bruce**

Once Jane and Erik have recovered from their shock at Clint’s ability, Jane brings Bruce into the library. He balks at the sight of the needle on the table, and tries to pull away from Jane and run out the door. Jane picks him up and holds him close, explaining, just as they have to the others, that the tests are just to make sure they aren’t hurt. A few tears run down Bruce’s face, but he finally calms and lets Jane set him on the table.

Erik works as quickly and gently as he can, not wanting to upset Bruce anymore than he already has. He finishes the blood draw and reflex tests, then starts to put away his equipment. A timid little voice interrupts him.

“If we have the amnesia, shouldn’t you do a neurocognitive test too? We were all unconscious for a little while before Mommy and Daddy came home,” When the adults all turn to look at him, surprised by his knowledge, he shrinks into himself, “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m not a doctor like you, so it’s probably a stupid idea.”

“Actually,” Erik responds, before Phil or Jane can say anything, “It isn’t a stupid idea at all. In fact, I’ll be coming over in a few days to do just that. If you were adults, I would preform one right now, but when you do one on a young person, such as yourself, the results tend to be more accurate if you wait a few days after the trauma to administer the test. If you’d like, and your parents will allow it, I could bring you a book on neurology when I come back to check on you again.”

Bruce’s eyes light up for a brief moment before fading slightly as he looks to Phil and Jane, hope and desire written so plainly on his face it nearly breaks their hearts. They nod and smile gently at him, their smiles widening when the light returns and he starts to nearly bounce with excitement. He jumps down from the table and runs into the other room, loudly proclaiming to the whole room that the doctor is going to bring him a new book to read.

***

Erik finishes packing up his supplies and the samples and leaves the mansion, promising he’ll return in a few days, (now with six books on varying subjects, as all the other children had insisted on getting a super cool new book just like Bruce.) Once the doors have resealed, Jane heads into the kitchen to start dinner, while Phil sits in the available arm chair, unsurprised when Tony crawls into his lap. He knows they won’t have the results from the blood work for at least another day, so he tamps down firmly on the thread of worry trying to sneak its way through his mind. Patience has always been one of his better virtues.

Dinner is rather uneventful, surprisingly, but the kids are all tired from the excitement of the day. Phil rifles through Tony and Clint’s drawers until he finds enough shirts for the kids to sleep in, making a mental note to have JARVIS order some appropriately sized children’s clothing as soon as they’ve put the kids to bed. Jane handles getting the six of them dressed, while Phil does the dinner dishes. Jane declines their demands to watch another movie, but pulls up an episode of Phineas and Ferb instead, informing them that bedtime will follow directly after the episode is over.

While Jane gets them all settled with blankets and pillows, Phil pours himself a much needed scotch from one of the decanters in their _extremely_ well stocked bar. He sits in his arm chair, pleased when Tony decides to stay on the floor with Bruce and Steve instead of climbing into his lap. A quick glance at his rumpled suit makes him smile a bit forlornly and decide that his usual attire might not be appropriate for dealing with children all day.

A few minutes into the episode, he notices a small movement out of the corner of his eye. Years of training have made him very good at watching without looking, so he keeps his attention on the space the movement came from. When he takes another sip of his scotch, Clint shuffles, ever so slightly towards the hallway. For a moment, Phil is confused about the movement. Then understanding dawns on him and he feels like someone has just dumped a bucket of ice over his head.

Calmly, he starts to rise from his seat, intending to take it into the kitchen and dispose of it. But he only makes it a few steps before Clint jumps up suddenly from his spot on the floor and bolts down the hallway. Phil hangs his head and sighs, guilt consuming him that he’d so quickly forgotten about Clint’s abusive past. The memories of what happened might be gone, but the emotions and fears from them are still very much present.

He quickly goes into the kitchen and pours the drink down the sink. Jane comes to stand by his side and places a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Do you want me to…?” she asks quietly.

“No. I’ll get him. If you go and comfort him every time he gets scared, he’ll never learn not to fear me,” he turns and gives her a sad smile, “I’ll be alright. You watch the others.”

She nods and goes back to the other children without another word. Phil quietly makes his way to Clint’s bedroom, a room he’s been in more times than he can count, a room that has always been a haven of comfort, of lust… of love. He sees the partially open closet door, and runs a hand through his hair, steeling himself. Slowly, he opens the door.

Of all the people in the world, Phil is the only one who knows Clint as well as Natasha does. And where most people take the low ground when they hide, Clint has always preferred to be up high. Phil had always assumed it was because he’s a sniper. But now he understands with new, awful clarity. When someone is looking for you, they never look up.

A soft sound, barely even a gasp, reaches Phil’s ears when he looks to the highest shelf of Clint’s closet. He can’t see the boy, as it’s too dark, and he doesn’t want to risk moving to turn the light switch on. He knows Clint’s night vision is just as amazing as it is during the day, and the last thing he wants to do is frighten Clint further. So instead, he just reaches out his hands towards the top shelf and speaks.

“Clint. Hey. I’m sorry I scared you, but I promise, Daddy’s not going to hurt you. I will never, _ever_ hurt you, okay? I love you so, _so_ much. You’re not in trouble for hiding, because that’s my fault for scaring you. And you can stay in here if you want to, but we’re going to watch another episode of the cartoon before bed, and everyone wants you to join us. I promise you won’t get in trouble. Will you come out, sweetheart? Please?”

He knows bribery is a manipulative way to convince the small child to listen, but he’s not sure what he would do if Clint rejected him, even in this form. So he waits, for an almost impossibly long time, till he hears small sounds of movement. Clint peers down at him from the top shelf warily, as though assessing the truthfulness of his words. After another long minute, he stretches out his arms and lets Phil take him down from the shelf and pull him into a hug.

“Thank you, baby boy. I’m so sorry for scaring you. I promise I will never do that again, alright?” he whispers lovingly into the dark blond hair.

Clint doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t try and get away either, so Phil carries him to the living room and puts him back on his blanket next to Bruce. He gives him a quick kiss on the head and returns to his own chair, resolving to never drink another drop of alcohol until everything is back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did extensive research on asthma, protein deficiency, and neurocognitive testing, but if I got something wrong, please let me know.
> 
> I recognize that Clint does not canonically have ridiculously good eyesight, but he does in my personal canon. Also, I corrected the reversed vision results. And while it not be exactly correct, the idea is that kid Clint can see things clearly at 150 yards that normal people can see at 20, and adult Clint can see just as clearly at 300 yards as a regular person can at 20. That's the idea, anyway.
> 
> Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Play Time

When Tony had decided to remodel an old mansion just outside of Manhattan and use it to house the Avengers, one of the first things he’d done was ask each of them what they wanted in a house. Most of the answers were obvious. Steve and Thor had naturally insisted on a gym, to which Clint and Tasha had added that there needed to be gymnastic equipment as well. Bruce had sent him a blueprint for his perfect in-home lab, which Tony had tripled in size, and added a whole separate room for himself to work on his suits. Initially, he had only planned on six bedrooms, as Jane stayed with Thor, Phil stayed with Clint, Pepper stayed with him, and Darcy was opting to stay in her apartment in the Tower. At least until she and Bruce got a bit more serious. But once he’d started planning, he ended up deciding to put in rooms for each of their live-in guests, just because he could. And they ended up being used more than he anticipated. If the Avengers got called up while Phil or Pepper was in town, it made them more comfortable to sleep in rooms that were technically ‘theirs,’ rather than to sleep in their respective lovers’ beds alone. And the extra rooms had proved useful in more ways than the one, as Phil and Pepper frequently used their rooms as makeshift offices. Thor had begun taking on the role of ambassador between Earth and Asgard, so was off planet more than before, and having a room to herself helped Jane feel less lonely without his presence in the house.

Both Phil and Jane are immensely grateful to have their own rooms in the large house as they finish tucking the last child in for the night. After the day they’ve had, sleeping on the couch doesn’t sound very appealing, and even with the size of the beds in each room, they had decided to put each child in their own room, secretly hoping it might trigger some sort of memory, or that a miracle might happen over night and they’ll be returned to their adult selves.

Jane barely has the energy to throw on one of Thor’s large shirts before practically flopping into the bed and falling almost immediately to sleep. She is awoken less than twenty minutes later when a small body climbs onto the bed. Glancing at the clock, she sighs softly before turning to see Steve and Clint both sitting on her bed looking scared. 

“Mommy?” Steve asks quietly, “We got scared being all alone. Can we sleep with you?”

She smiles softly in the dim light and folds back the covers, holding out her arms and letting the two boys curl up against her. They both fall back to sleep quickly, and Jane is about to join them, when another head peeks around the door. She lifts her hand from the sleeping Steve’s shoulder and beckons Bruce into the room, situating him behind Clint. With a sad smile, she looks at the tiny sleeping forms next to her. She misses her friends terribly, but she can’t deny the small kernel of warmth she feels at seeing them sleeping so peacefully.

The next morning, she slips out from underneath the pile of children and goes into the kitchen to make coffee, pleasantly surprised to see Phil has beaten her to it. She stands in the doorway for a moment, a little shocked at Phil’s appearance. She’s seen most of the Avengers in various states of undress, (Tony and Clint frequently come to breakfast in just their boxers or pajama pants,) but even when he stays at the mansion for a whole week, Phil always shows up in a full suit. Now… he’s wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, and although his shirt is still the same white button down she’s used to, it’s rolled up at the sleeves and the first two buttons are undone. It’s… odd, and catches her by surprise. Phil raises an eyebrow when he sees her staring.

“Would you care for some coffee Dr. Foster? Or is there something else I can help you with?” he says cheekily.

“Very funny,” she returns, smiling and taking the proffered mug of anti-morning tonic, “But I think I’ll have to pass. I’m fairly certain that, in their normal state, your lovers could, and would, end me with a sugar spoon if I even thought in your general direction. Besides, I’m happily taken. I just didn’t think you even _owned_ a pair of jeans.”

Phil chuckles and takes a sip of his coffee before answering.

“I don’t,” comes his response, “But if we’re going to be dealing with small children for at least a few more days, I didn’t want all of my good suits to end up ruined. Luckily, Clint and I are about the same size. Well, we were.”

There is silence for a moment as the reality of the situation settles back in.

“Any word from Erik yet?” Jane asks quietly.

“He called about a half hour ago. The blood tests were all negative for anything that could explain this. There’s no sign of the serum in Steve, or the Hulk in Bruce, which is a small blessing, but nothing to indicate how this happened, or how to fix it. Fury’s called in Strange and Richards to see if they can help, and he’s contacted Quill to see if he can track down any leads as to what the stone is, but Selvig didn’t sound hopeful. They’re going to leave the stone here for now, just in case it has some sort of timer or something sets it off again and turns them all back. I lifted the lockdown when I got off the phone. Neither Fury nor Selvig think there’s any chance of this spreading, and I wasn’t really looking forward to being locked in a house with six five year olds.”

Phil’s smile is a little rueful, but no less comforting. At the very least, Jane knows she isn’t in this alone, and that someone else who understands how hard this is going to be is by her side.

“Although, we might need to rethink the sleeping arrangements,” Phil comments, interrupting Jane’s thoughts.

“You too?” she asks, smiling when he nods.

“Apparently, five year old Natasha is afraid of the dark, and both Tony and Thor were afraid of being alone. It might be a good idea to have them sleep in pairs. Otherwise, we’ll have company every night. And smothered by five year olds isn’t exactly how I saw myself leaving this world.”

Jane laughs at his comment, and they spend the next half hour discussing the best sleeping arrangements. They decide to put Thor with Steve. Thor is much more mature than the others, and will be able to remain calm if Steve has an asthma attack in the middle of the night. Clint and Natasha are an obvious combination, as are Tony and Bruce. They both make mental notes to get several night-lights to put in the kids’ rooms. 

Once they’ve finished figuring out the new sleeping arrangements, Jane turns to Phil.

“How are you able to do this? How are you handling it so calmly? The people we love have been turned into five year olds, and you’re acting like it’s just another Tuesday. How?”

Phil sighs and looks at her, letting her see the pain in his eyes.

“The moment we walked in that door and Tony first ran up to me, I had to make a decision. I could panic and let my fear take over, or I could accept the situation and make the best of it. And the only way I can do that, is to look at it like an undercover mission. I can’t let myself see them as the people I love. _My_ Clint, _my _Natasha, they’re somewhere else. Because I know, if I let myself think about it, I won’t be able to fulfill the role these children… these small, scared, vulnerable children, need me to fulfill. They _need_ me to be ‘Daddy’ right now. That’s my assignment, that’s my mission. And I’m going to do the best job I can. I have to.”__

__Jane processes what Phil’s said for a moment. It makes sense. He’s a secret agent. One of the best she’s ever heard of, besides Natasha and Clint. She looks down at her nearly empty coffee mug and tries to keep from crying._ _

__“I’m not like you,” she starts, voice a little wobbly, “I’ve never been undercover, I’ve never had to pretend to be someone else. I’m a scientist. I deal with facts and figures. I don't know the first thing about being a parent. And every time I look at Thor…” she pauses for a moment to control her emotions, “I can’t help but miss the man I love.”_ _

__“I know,” Phil lays a comforting hand over hers, “I miss them too. But those children, _aren’t them_. Since you don’t have any undercover experience, maybe it would help you to think of this as an experiment. But one that you’re a part of. Approach it as you would a problem in your lab, and don’t stress about the role. Just be kind. And understanding. These are damaged children, so we have to tread carefully. But I have faith in you. And we’re in this together. You can do this.”_ _

__He squeezes her hand softly, and Jane’s mind calms at his words. It’s a good idea, to approach it the way he’s suggested. So she gives him a small smile, and pushes her emotions to the back of her mind. Her lover may be gone, but there are six children who need her, and she won’t let them down._ _

__When Tony walks in, yawning and rubbing at his eyes, Jane goes to give him a big hug, setting him at the bar while she starts on breakfast, leaving Phil to get the rest of the kids up and ready for the day._ _

__***_ _

__“You can’t be serious!” Jane exclaims, looking over Phil’s shoulder where he’s ordering clothes for the children. “You want to put them in those?!”_ _

__Phil looks over his choices, smiling a little. The items in question are several sets of ‘superhero’ themed pajamas, including all six of the Avengers._ _

__“You don’t think they’d look cute?” Phil asks innocently._ _

__“Of-of course I think they’d look cute,” Jane stutters, “But that’s not the point! If we put them in those, they will kill us for it!”_ _

__“No they won’t,” Phil assures her, “They love us too much. And besides, they’d do the same thing in this situation.”_ _

__Jane sighs heavily and sits next to Phil at the dining room table where he’s sitting ordering all the things they’re going to need to entertain six children for several days. He’s already picked out dozens of toys, and more sets of clothing than Jane thinks they’re going to need. But she helps him add a few more toys and clothes to the list before they send it off to have a SHIELD agent pick up and deliver to them. She also adds a ton of food items. The little Avengers go through just as much food as the adults, and they are rapidly running out._ _

__***_ _

__Later that day, the kids are watching a movie while they wait for the things Phil and Jane ordered to arrive, and Jane is finishing up making a small snack for them while Phil has a conference call with Strange and Richards. Unable to carry the plates of carrots, apples, cheese and crackers on her own, she opts to call one of the children in to help her._ _

__“Clint, honey. Can you come help Mommy carry the snack plates?” she calls into the living room._ _

__She waits for a second, but there is no sound of little footsteps, and no answer from the other room. Surprised, because Clint has so far been extremely obedient, almost afraid of disobeying either her or Phil, she calls out again._ _

__“Clint? Could you come help me for a second?”_ _

__Once again, there is no answer. A little worried, she goes into the living room to investigate. Clint is sitting on the couch next to Tony, exactly where she left him. She walks over and kneels in front of him. He looks at her and smiles a little._ _

__“Hi, Mommy.”_ _

__“Hi, honey. Are you alright? I called for you in the kitchen, but you didn’t answer me.”_ _

__Clint’s smile drops instantly, and he curls into himself a little, fear in his eyes._ _

__“I’m sorry, Mommy. I couldn’t see you, so I didn’t know you were talking. I wasn’t trying to be bad, I just couldn’t see you.”_ _

__Jane immediately feels terrible for scaring him, but it’s overshadowed by realization._ _

__“No, honey you aren’t it trouble! That was Mommy’s fault. I forgot you can’t hear me if you can’t see me. Don’t worry. I promise you aren’t in trouble, okay? Could you come help me bring the snacks in for everyone?”_ _

__“Sure!”_ _

__Clint brightens back up, and jumps down and runs to the kitchen. Once all the kids have been settled with their snack, Jane goes to Phil’s room. After a quick knock, she enters without waiting for an answer._ _

__When Phil sees the look on her face, he tells Stephen he’ll have to call him back and hangs up._ _

__“What’s happened? What’s wrong?”_ _

__Jane flounders around with her words for a moment, trying not to be upset, because she knows Phil would have said something if he’d known._ _

__“I think… I think Clint is deaf,” she says finally, distress in her voice._ _

__Phil stares at her for a very long time, confusion written plainly on his normally unreadable face._ _

__“Deaf? He can’t be. They might not remember who they are, but Selvig is positive they are in the same physical condition they were in when they were five the first time. And he’s been responding when we talk to him. He can’t be deaf. Why would you think that?”_ _

__“Because when I called him from the kitchen, twice, he didn’t answer. So I went and checked on him, and he said he didn’t know I was talking because he couldn’t see me,” she answers, trying to sound calm._ _

__Phil stands and goes to the window. He stares out of it for a long time, his face once again unreadable._ _

__“I’ve read his file hundreds of times. I was his handler for years! Nothing in his file says anything about a hearing impediment. And he never said anything to me about being deaf when he was younger. He certainly doesn’t have any problems hearing as an adult. You can’t see someone when you’re just on coms. Are you sure?” he turns to her and demands._ _

__“Come see for yourself, but I’m fairly certain he’s deaf, and can only read lips.”_ _

__She follows him out into the hallway. They stop just before they reach the living room, before any of the children can see them._ _

__“Clint?” Phil calls, “Can you come here for a minute?”_ _

__There is no response. He looks at Jane. She tilts her head and raises her eyebrows at him in an ‘I told you so’ gesture._ _

__“What do we do?” she asks in a whisper._ _

__“We’ll have to call Selvig again. Because either that stone did something more to them than we thought, or his file is incomplete. Erik’ll have to check, but if Clint’s really deaf, we’ll need to figure out some options.” Phil whispers back before stepping out into the living room, six heads swiveling in his direction._ _

__“Clint? Could you come here for a moment?” he calls._ _

__Cautiously, Clint slides off the couch and makes his way over to Phil, stopping just out of reach. Phil kneels and smiles at the boy._ _

__“Hey, buddy. I am so sorry. Mommy and Daddy forgot to talk to the doctor about your ears. We’re gonna have him come back and look at them, okay?”_ _

__Clint nods jerkily, and only flinches a little when Phil reaches out a hand to pet his hair._ _

__***_ _

__Selvig arrives along with several SHIELD agents who are carrying boxes and boxes of the items Phil and Jane ordered that morning. While the agents bring the boxes into the gym, Erik examines Clint’s ears with the specialized equipment he’s brought with him. It doesn’t take him very long to discover the problem._ _

__“Bad news first. He’s almost completely deaf,” he explains to Phil and Jane once the exam is finished, “The good news, is that I think hearing aids will help. He has about 95% hearing loss in both ears, and from what I’ve been able to glean from my exam, it’s most likely that he had whooping cough at a very young age, probably around two or three. Untreated, it can cause hearing loss, especially in children,” he pulls out a small case from his bag of equipment, “I brought a few hearing aids with me. Hopefully one of them will fit.”_ _

__“Does the hearing loss clear up over time? Because as an adult, Clint never had any problems hearing,” Phil asks._ _

__“To my knowledge, it doesn’t,” Erik provides, “But it’s possible he had surgery sometime before you met him, or before he joined SHIELD. I’ll show you how to help him put these in and how they work, then I need to be getting back to the lab. We still haven’t made any progress on what caused this.”_ _

__“Thank you, Erik,” says Jane, “Let us know as soon as you know something.”_ _

__“I will.”_ _

__Convincing Clint to let them put the hearing aids in proves to be a lot easier than either Phil or Jane thought it would be. He’s fascinated by the idea that the little devices in Erik’s hand will make it so he can hear. The look on his face when Erik turns them on is priceless, and both parents nearly tear up when he hugs them both tightly, a litany of ‘thank you’s’ streaming from his lips. The other kids are just as curious about the hearing aids, and Phil warns Tony sternly that under no circumstances is he allowed to mess with or play with them (he’d found a screwdriver that morning while Jane was making breakfast and had dismantled both the toaster and the blender before she’d put a stop to it.) Tony pouts for a second, but promises._ _

__Once Selvig and the other agents leave, Phil and Jane take the kids into the gym to show them the boxes of new things they’d gotten. All the training equipment has been moved back against the walls, leaving the entire room as an enormous play room. Six sets of eyes light up with excitement when they see all the toys and books and clothes. Originally, Phil and Jane were going to show them everything, then insist they all got dressed in something that wasn’t an adult tee-shirt, but they can’t bring themselves to stop the kid’s excited exploration of their new toys. Tony immediately wants to play with his new robotics kits; Thor is entranced by the plastic guns that shoot foam darts; Bruce gravitates towards a chemistry set, holding the book on neurology Erik had given him close to his chest; Steve picks out a mountain of books he wants to read, as well as several sets of colored pencils and drawing paper; Clint pulls out the giant rolled carpet with printed roads and starts crashing the myriad of hot wheels cars into one another, complete with explosion noises; Natasha lays out the dolls and dress-up clothes very carefully, then settles on a weight bench to watch the boys play. Concerned, Jane goes over and sits next to her, while Phil gets pulled over to Tony’s work place and told about the new robot he’s making._ _

__“Don’t you want to play with your new toys?” Jane asks the redhead._ _

__Natasha shrugs noncommittally and continues watching as one of Clint’s airplanes causes a ten car pile up on the floor._ _

__“All my toys are girl toys, and I don’t want to play by myself right now.”_ _

__“You could always play with your brothers, or ask them to play with you,” Jane offers._ _

__“No, that’s okay. They have boy toys, and I don’t think they’ll want to play with girl toys,” Tasha replies sadly, “I’ll just watch for now.”_ _

__Jane understands the little girl’s difficulty. As a child, she had frequently been belittled for playing with ‘boy toys’ and offered a doll instead of her telescope. It had infuriated her, and prompted her to play even more with her scientific toys. She pulls the girl into a hug, then takes her hand and leads her over to where Clint is playing._ _

__“Clint?” she says, getting his attention, “Can Tasha play with you?”_ _

__“Sure!” he responds enthusiastically, “Do you want to play cars? Or we could build a lego tower!”_ _

__Natasha smiles as Clint offers different choices of toys to play with, then looks longingly at the Disney dress-up clothes she’d gotten. Clint notices where she is looking and runs over to the dresses._ _

__“You want to play princesses?” he asks with a smile._ _

__She nods quietly and bows her head._ _

__“Okay! Steve! Thor! Tasha wants to play princesses! Come play with us!” he beckons._ _

__Steve and Thor both drop what they’re playing with and run over. Bruce and Tony, not wanting to be left out, join them as well._ _

__“Okay, Tasha. What princess do you want to be?” Clint asks, looking through the various outfits._ _

__“I wanna be Jasmine,” she answers, taking the teal dress from the pile, voice still a little unsure._ _

__“Cool! She’s a good princess.” Clint smiles at her._ _

__“I want to be Ariel!” Tony chimes in, grabbing his chosen dress, “She’s the prettiest. Here Bruce, you be Belle. She’s the smartest princess.”_ _

__Bruce accepts the dress with a blush and a bright smile at the compliment. Tasha pulls out another dress and hands it to Thor._ _

__“You can be Elsa, Thor. She’s like a viking princess!”_ _

__“Her magic is quite powerful. And she becomes queen, as I will someday become king! This is an acceptable choice.” He takes the preferred dress and starts putting it on._ _

__“Who should I be?” Steve asks, looking through the remaining choices._ _

__“You should be Rapunzel, cause she draws good like you,” Clint supplies, “And I’m going to be Merida, cause she’s got a cool bow and she’s better than all those lame boys!”_ _

__While the kids help each other get dressed in their princess outfits, Jane and Phil stand to the side watching with huge smiles on their faces._ _

__“JARVIS. Please tell me you’re recording this.” Jane says, her amusement evident in her voice._ _

__“Every moment, Ma’am,” the AI replies._ _

__They watch the children play for hours, reveling in the simple joy and innocence that they’ve never seen with the adult versions. The kids run around fighting a hoard of angry bears, go on a grand adventure to find the Sun Flower and Beast’s rose (a picture of a flower Steve had colored that morning,) save each other from the clutches of an evil witch and sorcerer (Phil and Jane get pulled in to play the villains, and love every minute of it,) and banish the frost giants from Viking lands. The hours seem to fly by as the kids jump from one princess game to the next, and play time is only interrupted when several little tummies start to growl loudly._ _

__***_ _

__Dinner is a much more rambunctious affair than the night before, and it is only the careful application of stern glances from Phil that prevents an all out food fight from breaking out in the dining room. Jane is immensely grateful, as the kids had insisted on wearing their princess dresses to dinner, and she really doesn’t relish the idea of having to send mashed potato covered Disney princess dresses to the dry cleaners. Once the table is cleared, Jane steels herself and makes an announcement._ _

__“Okay, kids. Bath time!” she says, spreading her arms and smiling as cheerfully as she can._ _

__The kids stop running around the living room, where they’d gone to continue their princess game, and turn to Jane with a collective groan. Phil smiles and has to suppress a laugh at their expected reaction._ _

__“But, mom!” several little voices protest._ _

__“No buts. If you cooperate and take your baths now, you can stay up a little later and watch a movie when you’re done, okay?”_ _

__There’s some sighing and groaning, and a few more protests, but they eventually settle and agree to take their baths. Jane tries to split them up and take them in groups, but none of them will have it. So she gives in, hoping none of them remember this when they get older, and herds them all into Thor’s room. Adult Tony had had a tub custom made to fit the demi-god’s enormous frame, and there is more than enough room in it to fit all six children comfortably. She leaves Phil to supervise getting the children out of their play dresses, and pulls the box of bath things from the gym and hauls them into the bathroom. Phil had insisted on getting bath toys along with regular ones, including several sets of boats and water planes, bathtub markers, and colored bubble bath. With a sigh, she starts the water filling, making sure to make it just on the warm side of lukewarm, and dumps the toys in the tub._ _

__She hears a shriek from the bedroom and runs in, terrified something bad has happened. She relaxes almost immediately, when she sees Natasha running around the room, half of her dress undone, while Phil chases her with threats to tickle her to death. Tony, who is completely naked, is chasing both of them, Thor and Steve hot on his heels, in an attempt to save her from the tickle monster. She clears her throat loudly and all four of them stop, looking a bit shame faced. She smiles to let the kids know she isn’t mad, then points at the bathroom._ _

__Tony races Thor, who is also naked, and tries to jump into the tub, nearly slipping on the floor and breaking his head open. Jane manages to catch him before he falls, and sets him gently in the water. Phil finishes helping the others get undressed and brings them in to join._ _

__Nearly an hour and a half later, after several arguments over who got to play with which toy and fighting to get hair and bodies washed in between the playing, Jane and Phil (who are nearly soaked from an impromptu bubble fight that had broken out,) finally pull the plug on the tub, and wrap the now prune skinned kids in big printed towels._ _

__“Alright. We got you guys some new pajamas with superheroes on them!” Jane says, pulling the pajamas out of the box._ _

__The kids immediately come over and start looking over their choices. Steve pulls a set of Spiderman pajamas out of the pile._ _

__“I want these ones,” he says, smiling._ _

__“Spiderman is lame,” Tony comments, rifling through the clothes._ _

__“No he’s not!” Steve retorts, a little hurt._ _

__“Yes he is! Being a spider isn’t cool!” Tony shoots back._ _

__“You can wear which ever ones you want, sweetheart,” Jane interrupts, putting an arm around Steve’s shoulders._ _

__“I don’t wanna be a lame superhero, Mommy.” Steve says sadly, setting the Spiderman pajamas back on the bed._ _

__“Okay… well…” she smiles to herself and grabs another set out of the pile, “What about Captain America? He’s not lame. He’s really cool! And he’s really nice and helps lots of people.”_ _

__Steve smiles and nods, taking the pajamas and slipping them on._ _

__“Can I have the wolfreen ones?” Tasha asks._ _

__“His name is Wolverine,” Jane responds with a smile, “And of course you can, sweetie.”_ _

__“I shall sleep in the ones of this superior hero,” Thor proclaims, holding up a pair of Thor themed pajamas, “He shares a name with me, and uses a hammer like I will when I’m older!”_ _

__Phil is concerned for a moment that Thor will put the pieces together, but his interest seems innocent, not knowing._ _

__“Good choice, Thor. What about you Tony? Which superhero do you want?” Phil asks, turning to the brunette._ _

__“Iron Man! He’s the best one!” Tony claims loudly, accepting the pajamas when Phil hands them to him._ _

__“Bruce?” Phil prompts._ _

__Bruce eyes Tony’s pajamas before shrugging and turning away. Phil pulls pairs of Hulk and Fantastic Four pajamas out of the pile._ _

__“What about one of these?” Phil asks, showing them to the boy._ _

__Bruce just shrugs again, keeping his eyes down. Then Tony holds out the Iron Man pajamas to Bruce._ _

__“You can have these ones Bruce,” he says with a soft smile, “I want the Hulk ones instead.”_ _

__“Thank you, Tony.” Bruce takes the pajamas and smiles as he puts them on._ _

__Phil hands the Hulk pajamas to Tony and kisses him briefly on the top of the head in gratitude._ _

__“Mommy? Can I have the Hawkeye ones?” Clint asks, pointing at his choice._ _

__“Sure, Clint,” she answers, helping him slip them on._ _

__Once the kids are all dressed, Phil and Jane explain the new sleeping arrangements and install the new night-lights. They have all the kids snuggle up on Thor and Steve’s bed while Jane and Phil read a story for each of them. Finally, when all the stories are read, they settle the kids into bed, tuck them in with a kiss, and go into their own rooms, collapsing almost immediately from exhaustion._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought!


	4. Cabin Fever

”We don’t know what caused it, Darce, or how to fix it. Dr. Richards and Dr. Strange are working on finding a solution, but it’s taking time,” Jane explains to her best friend Darcy Lewis, sighing into the phone, “It’s probably best if you just stay at your parents for now.”

“Why?” Darcy asks, a bit miffed at Jane’s suggestion, “I want to see the tiny Avengers!”

“Darcy…” Jane says gently, “I know that right now you’re only thinking about how cute they are. And they are cute. Extremely so. But believe me. You don’t want to see Bruce this way. There’s… things about his childhood that have come to light… and I don’t want it to color the way you think of him as an adult. Okay?”

She hears Darcy sigh on the other end of the line.

“Okay. I’ll stay here for now. But you promise to tell me as soon as you know something!” Darcy demands.

“I promise,” Jane agrees immediately, glad that her friend is listening to her. She usually does when Jane gets serious on her, “As soon as I know something, I’ll call you.”

Once she finishes talking with Darcy, she heads into the living room and smiles at what she sees. Bruce and Steve are both lying on their stomachs on the floor flipping through an encyclopedia of dinosaurs and talking quietly about which of them is the coolest. Tony is building one of the robots from his kits, while Thor and Clint are competing to see who can build the tallest lego tower. Natasha is sitting on the couch, a coloring book in her lap and a pile of colored pencils and crayons sitting next to her. Phil sees her walk in, stands and goes to talk to her.

“Well?” he asks.

“She’s going to stay with her parents for now. I haven’t called Pepper yet,” Jane admits a bit ruefully.

Phil pats her arm in understanding. Pepper Potts is a stubborn, hard-headed woman on the best of days. Jane and Phil had decided that Darcy and Pepper needed to be told what had happened, despite Fury’s insistence to the contrary, and they had both agreed that it would be an easier blow coming from Jane. Both Pepper and Darcy still look at Phil as an agent, even if he is a friend.

“Do you want me to make lunch?” Phil asks, a note of pity in his soft voice.

“No, that’s alright. Cooking is calming for me. Any requests?” she asks with a smile, trying to put all thought of her impending phone call to Pepper out of her mind.

“Bruce asked for grilled cheese a little earlier, and Steve insisted that you can’t have grilled cheese without tomato soup.”

“If only they were this easy to cook for as adults,” Jane laughs, heading into the kitchen.

It isn’t as easy of a meal to cook as she was anticipating. Her mind is so preoccupied with how she’s going to break the news to Pepper, that she ends up burning the first three sandwiches beyond edibility. She’s just setting a new batch of sandwiches on the griddle when Tony comes in and tugs gently on her shirt.

“Mommy! I finished my robot!” he tells her, pride in his voice.

“That’s nice,” she responds distractedly, checking the temperature of the griddle and turning it down a bit.

“You gotta come see it! It moves and everything!” Tony tugs on her shirt again, trying to get her to come into the living room with him.

“Not right now, Tony.”

“But it’s really cool! You gotta come see!” he insists, tugging harder.

“Not right now, Tony! I’m trying to make lunch. Shit!” Jane yells, dropping the spatula on the counter and turning to the stove.

Smoke is rising from the pot of soup that she’d forgotten about while focusing on the sandwiches, and when she stirs it a little, black lumps of charcoal float to the surface. She pulls the pot off the burner and throws the spoon in the sink, upset that she’ll have to start the whole meal again from scratch. Tony lets go of her shirt, and she briefly sees the hurt look in his eyes before he turns and runs back into the living room.

Jane drops her head into her hands, feeling like a colossal ass. It isn’t Tony’s fault she’d burned lunch, or that she can’t figure out how to tell one of her best friends that her boyfriend is now a five year old. And while she and Phil are fairly certain Howard Stark never hit his son, he certainly didn’t pay much attention to him. Tony is so desperate for attention and praise, showing off everything he builds or makes, no matter how small it is, and sitting in either Jane or Phil’s lap almost every time they join the kids for a movie, (or any time they sit at all,) that they’ve both come to understand why Tony is so self-absorbed as an adult. Somewhere along the line he realized that the only person who would ever appreciate him… was him.

She turns off the griddle, dumps the ruined soup down the drain and puts some water in the bottom of the pot to let it start soaking while she calms her emotions and tries to think of how she’s going to make this right. She only gives herself a few moments before she heads into the living room.

Tony is curled up on Phil’s lap, face buried in the white linen of Phil’s shirt, shoulders shaking slightly as he cries silently. Phil sees her face and gives her a sympathetic look while he rubs a hand comfortingly across Tony’s back. She walks over and hoists Tony into her arms, pulling him close and sitting in a corner of the sofa.

“I’m sorry for yelling like that, Tony,” she starts, petting his hair and kissing the top of his head softly, “I’m worried about something at work, and I took it out on you. That was very wrong of me, and I’m sorry. Will you still show me your robot?”

Tony lifts his head and looks at her, sniffing a little and wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. He nods and slides off her lap. He kneels in front of the coffee table and picks up the robot, (which looks a lot like a giant spider, but with only six legs,) setting it on its feet. Grabbing the remote, he climbs back onto the couch and sits next to her, glancing at her for a moment to make sure it’s still okay. She smiles and pulls him into her lap. He settles happily and starts pressing buttons on the controller. The little robot shuffles across the table. When it reaches the end, it stops, and the head swivels around to face the opposite direction, then it walks back to its original spot.

“That’s all it can do right now. But Daddy said we could put a light on his head and he can watch over me and Bruce at night,” Tony comments, a little excitement showing through in his voice.

“That’s a wonderful idea, sweetheart! And you did a fantastic job putting him together so fast. I’m very proud of you!”

She gives the little brunette a big hug, and he kisses her on the cheek before jumping down to tell Bruce all the cool features he’s going to put on their new guard-bot. Jane looks at the kitchen doorway, trying to decide if she’s up to attempting to make lunch again, when Phil addresses the room.

“I think we should give Mommy a break from cooking today. How about we order some pizza for lunch?”

His suggestion is met with whoops of joy and giant grins, and Jane gives him a grateful smile.

***

Jane paces back and forth in the parking garage restlessly. Her phone call with Pepper had not gone as smoothly as she had hoped, and the CEO of Stark Industries is currently on her way to the mansion. After explaining the situation, Pepper had insisted on coming to see them, and no amount of persuading could convince her otherwise. As the car pulls in, Jane hopes her plan doesn’t ruin the friendship she has with the other woman, and that Pepper will understand. The situation is already hard enough on her and Phil, and they don’t have the option to stay away.

When Pepper steps out of the car, her mouth is set in a grim line and her eyes are harsh. She strides purposefully over to Jane.

“I want to see him,” she says, her tone broking no argument.

Jane nods and heads into the mansion, steering Pepper to Tony’s room. Once they are inside, Jane closes the door.

“JARVIS, initiate Level 2 lockdown status, this room only,” she orders the AI.

The soft click of the door and windows locking fills the room, and Pepper turns on Jane, anger and pain in her eyes.

“What are you doing?!” Pepper demands, furious at Jane’s betrayal, as it’s obvious Tony is not in his room, “JARVIS, open the door immediately!”

“I am sorry, Miss Potts, but I am unable to do that. Until the current situation is resolved, only Dr. Foster or Director Coulson may place or lift security lockdowns,” the AI responds, though he sounds a little regretful.

Pepper glares at Jane, wordlessly demanding an explanation. Instead of answering, or lifting the lockdown as she knows Pepper wants her to, Jane walks over to the large flat screen TV on the wall and turns it on. She’d already told JARVIS what to play, and she is pleased when the security feed from the living room fills the screen. Steve and Thor have joined Natasha in her coloring endeavors, though they have moved from coloring books to an enormous sheet of paper Phil has laid out on the coffee table. Tony is helping Clint make his giant lego tower more stable, as Clint has become determined to make it touch the top of the nine foot ceiling, but was struggling to keep it from falling over. Bruce is sitting next to Phil on the couch reading his book on neurology, sharing the cool parts with Phil and scooting closer to him every so often, although Phil never shows he notices, letting Bruce initiate so the boy doesn’t feel trapped or scared. Both he and Clint have shown marked improvement in the three days they’ve been children, initiating conversations and even asking Phil for things, the fear in their eyes almost gone.

Jane stands to the side and watches Pepper as she observes the children playing. As a female CEO in a world dominated by men who think she isn’t up to the task, Pepper has become almost as good as Natasha at hiding her emotions. But now, Jane can see each one as they flit across her face, and she recognizes them as the same emotions she’d felt and continues to feel. Shock, disbelief, concern, confusion, humor, more disbelief, fear, realization… heartbreak. When the lego tower falls over for the umpteenth time, Tony starts pounding on the pieces in frustration. Phil quickly stands and goes to the frustrated boy, kneeling and pulling him into a hug. Clint comes over, just as upset, and Phil pulls him in too.

“It won’t work! Why won’t it work?!” Tony cries, inconsolable.

“Shhh. It’s alright. We’ll figure it out, okay?” Phil says, trying to calm the boy down, “You are both very smart. I’m sure if we put our heads together, we can do this. Bruce?” he asks, turning to the couch, “Do you want to come help us build the tower?”

“Sure,” Bruce nods, setting his book to the side and jumping off the couch. He looks at the pile of legos on the floor for a moment before going over to where Tony is still crying softly, and lays a hand on his brother’s arm, “I think we need to make some supports that come out of the tower diagonally at around four feet high. That should help counteract the top-heaviness that’s causing it to collapse.”

Tony looks over at Bruce in disbelief for a moment before looking down at the blocks.

“You’re right!” he exclaims, running over to the destroyed tower and picking up several pieces, “And once those supports are in place, they’ll keep the base more balanced, so the top shouldn’t wobble so bad. You’re a genius, Bruce!”

The three boys immediately set about rebuilding their tower, and Phil goes back to the couch to watch, ruffling Steve’s hair lovingly as he passes, and complimenting the drawings the other three are working on.

Pepper turns away from the screen, wiping a hand across her eyes.

“That’s not him. That’s not my Tony,” she whispers, almost to herself.

“I know,” Jane goes to her friend and wraps an arm around her shoulders, “And we have the best people we know working on fixing this. But you’re right. That isn’t your Tony. Just like that isn’t my Thor, or Phil’s Clint and Tasha, or Darcy’s Bruce. They’re children. And I brought you in here first because if you go out there, he won’t know who you are. You’ll be a stranger. A friend from Mommy’s work. If you still want to see him, I won’t stop you, but…”

“No,” Pepper says forcefully, squaring her shoulders and turning to face Jane, “You were right. I can’t… I don’t want to see him like this. I miss him. Fiercely. But that little boy… that’s not him. And I don’t think I could handle it if he didn’t recognize me,” she wipes another tear from her cheek, then pulls Jane into a tight hug, “I am so sorry. This has got to be so hard for you, seeing them like this. I don’t know how you do it.”

Jane returns the hug with equal force, taking comfort from her friend’s support.

“It hurts. And at first, I didn’t think I _could_ do it,” she responds, pulling away from the hug and looking in Pepper’s eyes, “But Phil reminded me that even though the people we love are gone right now, those little kids need us.”

Pepper nods and gives Jane a small smile at her statement.

“You are a strong, brave woman, Jane Foster. I don’t think I could be even half as calm as you if our positions were reversed. But I’m not the kind of person who can just sit back and do nothing. I might not be able to help figure out how to reverse this, but I’ll be damned if I’m just going to sit on my hands,” Pepper states, determination in her voice, “So I’ll be your back up. I’ll handle all the behind the scenes stuff. You’ve probably been relying on SHIELD for everything the last few days, but I promise, I’m faster and more discreet than they are. So, if you need anything, and I mean _anything_ , tell me. I’ll make sure you get it. Groceries, toys, clothes, medicine… _anything_. Send me the list. Got it?”

Jane smiles and pulls Pepper in for another hug.

“Got it.”

***

“Mommy?” Steve asks at dinner that evening, “How come you and Daddy don’t sleep in the same room? Does that mean you don’t love each other?”

Phil chokes on his drink and starts coughing loudly, while Jane just sits there staring at Steve incredulously for several moments with no idea how to answer the question. Thankfully, Phil recovers first.

“Your Mommy and I do love each other, Steve. But because our work schedules sometimes get really hectic, we thought it would be best to have separate rooms so we don’t wake each other up if we get home really late,” Phil answers, then gives Jane an apologetic look.

“Oh. Okay,” Steve responds, accepting the explanation and going back to his meal.

The rest of dinner is a relatively quiet affair, with no more questions about Phil and Jane’s relationship, and once it’s over, they settle the kids in the living room to watch a movie before bedtime. It’s Tony’s turn to choose, and when he makes his selection on the TV, Phil vetoes it immediately.

“No, Tony. Jurassic Park is an adult movie. It’s scary and will give you nightmares,” he says sternly.

“But it’s about dinosaurs! I wanna watch the dinosaur movie!” Tony protests with a pout.

“Then we can watch Land Before Time or We’re Back, those are about dinosaurs and they won’t give everyone nightmares,” counters Phil.

“It won’t give us nightmares!” he looks around at the other kids, and several of them nod in agreement, apparently having planned this out before hand, “We promise! Please, Daddy? Pretty pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry?”

Phil looks to Jane for a moment. She gives him a barely noticeable shrug in answer. He looks at each of the children in turn, trying to decide if the lesson it would teach is worth not sleeping tonight. He and Jane had decided during their conversation that first morning that they would allow the kids to make mistakes. Not ones that would harm them, or cause emotional damage, but little ones so that they could learn from them. They have no idea how long the Avengers are going to stay children, but on the off-chance it’s a long term situation, they don’t want to be overbearing and make the kids resent them. Phil sighs and smiles at the six eager faces that are waiting for his answer.

“On one condition,” he says, and waits until the excited response dies down, “If you _do_ end up having nightmares, you have to promise that you’ll listen the next time I tell you a movie is too scary, alright?”

The children agree readily and Phil starts the movie. By the time the T-Rex is chasing down the car, both Phil and Jane have three children curled up against them, all eight of them sharing the couch. They exchange a look, and Phil silently mouths a promise to make the coffee in the morning.

As expected, shortly after Phil and Jane climb into bed, three little bodies crawl into each of their beds, and tiny voices whisper promises to never watch scary movies ever again.

***

Over the next few days, the mansion falls into a kind of routine. Phil wakes first and makes coffee, settling into his chair to read the newspaper. Tony is usually the next one awake, and he crawls into Phil’s lap to read with him, every once in a while trying to steal a sip of coffee. Once Jane is awake, she starts on breakfast while Phil gets the kids dressed and ready for the day. Most of the day is taken up by playtime or movies in the living room and gym, with lunch somewhere in the middle, then it’s dinner, bath time, TV for a bit, story time, and bed. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Near the end of the first week, both Phil and Jane can tell that the kids are starting to get restless. Tempers start flaring a little more often, and they’ve had to intervene more than once to keep an argument from turning into an all out brawl.

“We can’t keep them cooped up in this house forever,” Jane comments one night after the children are in bed, “They’re already going stir crazy, and it’s just going to get worse.”

“I know. And I would love to take them outside, go to the park for a day, but they’re high profile targets. If even one of their multitude of enemies found out they were so vulnerable right now, you and I wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to protect them,” Phil responds sadly.

“What if we asked some of the other superhero teams to help? I know Richards is out of the question, but what about Sue or Johnny? And Xavier knows dozens of people that could help,” Jane counters.

Phil thinks about it for a moment. It’s a good idea, and with all the help the Avengers have given the other teams, he knows they’d be more than willing to help out.

“We couldn’t tell the kids they were being guarded though,” he says seriously, “Then we’d have to explain why they were in danger, and it would scare some of them too much. But I’ll call Sue and Xavier in the morning, see what they can offer.”

Jane nods in agreement with Phil’s observation, and starts planning picnic ideas.

***

“I’d love to help!” Susan Storm agrees excitedly when Phil calls her early the next morning, “I’ve been feeling kind of useless since Reed went to the Tower. When were you thinking?”

“If Xavier agrees, and his people are free as well, probably late morning tomorrow. We’d stay till the kids got tired, so it might be an all day thing,” Phil informs her.

“That’s no problem,” she assures him, “There are worse ways to spend a day than watching six cute kids run around playing.”

“Thanks, Susan. We really appreciate your help in this.”

“Don’t worry about it, Phil. Believe me, I’m glad to help.”

Phil hangs up with Susan and pulls up the number for Xavier’s school. He’d expected Susan to agree readily, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four have worked on several missions together, and become at least tentative friends. But Phil’s only met Charles Xavier once, and although he’s an extremely pleasant person, Phil doesn’t have nearly as much ground to stand on to call on the X-Men for help. He dials the number and hopes mutual benefit will be good enough.

“Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. This is Ms. Munroe. How can I help you?”

“Ms. Munroe. This is Phil Coulson, with SHIELD. I was hoping to speak with Professor Xavier. Is he in?” Phil asks politely.

“He is, Director. Let me get him for you,” Storm answers just as politely.

After a moment, a deep British voice comes on the line.

“Director Coulson. This is a surprise. We heard about what’s happened to your team. Is there some way we can be of assistance?” the Professor asks amiably.

“Actually, Professor, that’s why I called. I was wondering if we could borrow a few of your people for a protection detail. The kids have a bad case of cabin fever, and we’d like to take them to a park for the day,” Phil responds a bit awkwardly, “I know it’s short notice, but…”

“Not at all, Director. We’d be happy to help. Did you have anyone particular in mind?”

“We’d prefer that the children remain unaware of their bodyguards, so stealth is preferable. And if they did find out, it would be best if the detail was female. A couple of the kids react unfavorably to male authority figures and I don’t want to scare them,” Phil suggests, hoping his team won’t be too mad at him for revealing such private information.

“That’s perfectly understandable. We’ve had several children at the school with similar problems,” Xavier assures him, “I think Betsy, Marie, and Kitty would be a good fit. Betsy has some precognitive abilities that would be useful, and all three of them are exceptionally skilled fighters, and know how to blend into a crowd. Shall I have them head to you now?”

“Those three will work perfectly,” Phil responds, mentally going through what he knows about Psylocke, Rogue, and Shadowcat, “We’re going to the park tomorrow morning. Susan Storm will also be accompanying us. Could you have them meet her outside the Baxter Building around nine? I’ll make sure they have all the details they need for the assignment,” promises Phil, ever the consummate professional.

“I believe I can arrange that,” Charles says with a smile in his voice, “I’m glad we’re able to help. If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to call.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“My pleasure, Director.”

***

“We’re going to the park today! We’re going to the park today! We’re going to the paaaaaaark tooooooooodaaaaaaaaay!” sings Tony as he skips around his and Bruce’s bedroom half dressed.

“We won’t be going anywhere if you don’t put that shirt on, young man,” Phil comments, pointing to the garment Tony has been swinging around excitedly for the last five minutes, “I’m not taking you to the park in only your jeans.

“Are you coming to the park too, Daddy?” Bruce asks quietly while Phil helps him into his own shirt, “Will you push me on the swings? I don’t have enough mass to build up the force necessary to go very high.”

“Of course I’ll push you on the swings,” Phil says, ruffling the boy’s hair fondly, smiling at how comfortable Bruce has become with speaking like the genius he is, “Now, why don’t you go see if Mommy needs any help getting lunch ready?”

Bruce runs off to the kitchen, and Phil helps Tony pull his head out of his shirt sleeve, then the boy runs to join Bruce. The forecast for the day had predicted sun, but with a slight breeze in the afternoon, so Phil gathers six jackets in case they’re needed. He sets them on top of the cooler full of juice boxes next to the front door, before going to join the rest of his little family in the kitchen.

“Clint! Thor! We do not stand on the table!” Jane’s voice reaches Phil just before he enters the kitchen.

“But Mommy, our plane got stuck in the light!” Clint whines.

“We must retrieve it before it catches fire, Lady Jane,” Thor adds helpfully.

Phil strides into the kitchen and deftly snags the boys off the table, setting them gently on the floor before reaching up and pulling the paper airplane from the electrical cords of the chandelier and handing it to Clint.

“That was a close one. I think it might be better to play with your plane in the living room. Don’t you think?” he asks the boys. They nod happily and run off to continue their game, “Steve?” Phil asks the boy sitting at the table coloring, “Do you remember the rules for going to the park today?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Steve responds immediately, looking up from his drawing and listing off the rules they’d talked about only a few hours before, sticking up a finger for each one, “If I start having trouble breathing, I take my inhaler and have to sit on the blanket for five minutes before I go play again. If the trouble gets worse, tell Mommy or Daddy right away. And if Mommy or Daddy says I have to stop playing for a little bit, I have to stop and sit for awhile.”

“Very good, sweetheart,” Phil praises. He hadn’t really thought Steve would forget the rules, but it doesn’t hurt to check, “And you know that if we tell you to stop playing, it isn’t because you’re bad or you did something wrong, right?”

“I know, Daddy. And I promise I’ll listen. I don’t want to ruin everybody’s fun day by having an attack that makes us have to go home early,” Steve replies, going back to his drawing.

Phil shakes his head at how selfless Steve is, even at this age. Then he turns to Tony, who is sitting on a stool at the counter, putting different snacks into small travel containers.

“Tony, do you remember the promise you made me this morning?” he questions, making his tone just a little sterner than he had with Steve.

“To always stay where Mommy and Daddy can see me,” Tony recites dutifully, his eyes never leaving his task.

Neither Phil nor Jane truly think Tony is a flight risk, but his attention has a tendency to wander, his body going along with it, and even though they trust Sue and the X-Men to keep all the kids safe, one of the things they’ve learned about Tony is that he is terrified of disappointing his parents. So having him promise to stay where they can see him, makes Phil and Jane a lot more confident that he actually _will_.

“Good job,” compliments Phil, giving Tony a quick kiss on the head, “And thank you for helping with the snacks.”

“You’re welcome!” Tony grins.

Once the picnic baskets are packed to the brim with several different kinds of sandwiches and every type of snack Jane can think of, Phil helps her carry them to the front door and sets them beside the other things they’ve packed for the day. Jane pulls Steve’s nebulizer out of the hall bathroom and it joins the pile. She hopes they won’t need it, but she’d rather be over-prepared than under.

She and Phil stand in the hallway for a few minutes and just watch the kids play while they wait for the car and driver Pepper is sending to arrive. If something does happen, having a bulletproof car and a driver who knows how to handle a car chase would come in extremely handy. Especially as it would leave Phil free to help keep the children calm. Jane looks over at Phil and smiles as she watches him looking out over the room. After a moment, he turns and gives her a curious look.

“You’re staring again, Dr. Foster. If you keep that up, you’ll make me self-conscious,” he chides, good-naturedly.

“As though you aren’t already perfectly aware of everything you do and the effect it has on the people around you,” Jane retorts, her smile never wavering, “But you know, for an agent, you make a pretty good dad. Do they teach parenting classes as part of your training at SHIELD?”

Phil chuckles at her question.

“No, it’s not part of the standard curriculum. However, you’ll recall that before I became romantically involved with them, I was Clint and Natasha’s handler. Being a parent isn’t all that different,” he comments with a wink.

“No, I can imagine dealing with them as adults is just as difficult as dealing with them as children. If not more so,” Jane agrees with a laugh.

The doorbell rings before either of them can say anything further, and they are nearly bowled over as six eager children race to the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, we go to the park!
> 
> I am purposefully showing Phil and now Jane messing up as parents, because I feel that they would. They didn't want the role, and between the two of them, they are dating three of the now tiny Avengers. They're human, and humans make mistakes. They don't do it on purpose, and they fix it, but the idea of them never messing up bothered me. Because even people who want to be parents, and read all the literature, and take all the classes, mess up sometimes.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading, and please drop a comment and let me know what you thought!


	5. Park-capades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to all the people who commented! Your comments give me motivation to keep writing!

Jane lays back on the blanket and closes her eyes, letting the sun warm her skin. The kids aren’t the only ones who’ve been cooped up inside for too long, and the fresh air smells wonderful.

“You look like you could use a vacation,” the disembodied voice of Susan Storm says quietly from somewhere near her right shoulder.

Jane smiles and chuckles a little under her breath.

“I certainly wouldn’t turn one down,” Jane admits, sitting up and checking the playground for her kids, “I went from noted astrophysicist to mother of six in about the same amount of time it takes you to vanish. It’s been a long week, to say the least.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Sue agrees, remaining invisible, “But I’ve got to say, those are some of the happiest children I’ve ever seen. So even though you weren’t prepared for this, you’re doing one hell of a good job.”

A blush warms Jane’s cheeks and she smiles in the direction of the voice. Phil returns to the blanket from the playground, where he’s been pushing Bruce and Natasha on the swings for the last twenty minutes, and sits, rubbing his arms a little.

“Five year olds are much heavier than they look,” he comments drily, “Everything looking alright from over here?”

“Psylocke’s at the north end of the park. Her precognitive abilities only see about an hour into the future, but she hasn’t read any danger as of right now,” Sue reports, startling Phil slightly when her voice comes out of thin air, “If that changes I’ll let you know. Shadowcat is in one of the trees to the east of here. She’s keeping an eye on the kids, making sure one of them doesn’t wander off. Rogue is due south. The only thing she’s had to report is a bunch of older kids causing some problems at the next playground.”

“Thank you, Sue. Although I think other children fall under the ‘parents’ column in this situation,” Phil suggests, glancing at the indicated area, “If something happens along those lines, Jane and I will handle it.”

“Understood, Phil. Let’s hope it doesn’t, for everyone’s sake. I’d hate to see any of those kids upset. I’ll leave you be. But I’ll stay within hearing range if you need me.”

The grass rustles slightly as Susan stands and leaves. Tony shouts for someone to come and push him on the swings, and Jane sighs, leaving the warmth of the blanket and heading for the playground.

Most of the day passes without incident. Steve only has to take his inhaler once, and Phil and Jane both decide that since Steve has to sit anyway, that it’s a perfect time for lunch. The sandwiches are devoured with gusto, and by the time they’re finished, only a few tubs of the snacks have anything left in them. The kids run back off to keep playing, and Jane pulls a book out of her bag to read for a little while.

Barely forty minutes later, she and Phil hear a disturbance from across the playground, they look up, and sure enough, there is a group of kids denying them entry to the slide. Jane goes to stand and sort it out, but Phil puts a hand on her arm stopping her.

“Let’s see if they can solve it on their own first. We can’t fight all their battles for them, no matter how much we may want to,” Phil says with a soft smile.

She nods, understanding where he’s coming from, and opens her book back up but doesn’t read. They can hear what’s being said at the slide perfectly from where they’re sitting, and the two parents listen to the exchange.

“Only big kids are allowed on the slide, you little losers!” says one of the kids, a heavier kid somewhere around the age of nine or ten. He’s flanked by his two friends, a tall lanky kid, and another one his same size, but with braces.

“We’re not little, and we’re not losers!” Natasha insists emphatically.

“This is a public park, moron. Anyone can use the slide!” adds Tony, trying to go around the kid. He’s immediately pushed back, and only saved from falling on his back by Thor grabbing his arm and keeping him upright.

“You’re the moron, moron. I said you can’t use the slide, so you can’t use it. This is my territory and I make the rules,” the kid fires back.

“What, are you in some kind of gang? Kind of a lame waste of time, but whatever floats your cookie,” Tony responds, sneering at the kid.

“Who the hell you think you are, you dumb brat?” the kid yells, shoving on Tony’s shoulder and nearly knocking him over again, “Don’t you know who I am?”

“The big dumb ape from apartment A?” mocks Tony, despite Steve’s tugging on his sleeve to try and get him to stop and go back to the swings.

“Little bitch! I’m Jared Matthew Bennet. My dad is Matthew Peter Bennet. He owns that whole apartment complex over there. So you better listen if you know what’s good for you,” brags the kid.

“I don’t care who your dad is! We don’t live anywhere near your stupid apartment complex. We live in a mansion outside of town! Your dad is nothing compared to our dad! Our dad is worth ten million of your dad! And you wanna swap names? Our dad is Phil Coulson! My name is Anthony Edward…”

Tony pauses for a moment. Intellectually, he knows that his last name should be Coulson. That’s his dad’s name. But for some reason it doesn’t sound right in his head, and he can’t explain why. Thor leans over and whispers in his ear. Since they’d all lost their memories after the bright flash of light, it makes sense that his friend Tony might have forgotten his surname. So he helpfully provides it. Tony looks at him like he’s crazy for a moment, then his eyes spark with understanding and recognition.

“My name is Anthony Edward Philsson. These are my brothers: Steve Grant Philsson, Robert Bruce Philsson, Clinton Francis Philsson. And my sister: Natasha Alianova Philsdotter. And this is Thor Odinsson,” Tony proclaims proudly, pointing to each of them in turn, “And if any one should listen, it should be you! My dad works for the government, and he knows people you could only _dream_ of meeting. So you better leave this playground alone!”

Tony reaches up and shoves the kid as hard as he can, knocking him down. His friends help him up and they all run from the playground, yelling dire threats behind them as they go. Phil stands, along with Jane, and they go to where the kids are congratulating each other on not letting the bullies ruin their day.

“That seemed a little unpleasant,” Phil starts, kneeling and pulling Tony in for a hug, “Is everything alright over here?”

“Everything’s perfect, Daddy! Tony stood up to that bully and made him leave the park so we can go back to playing on the slide,” Bruce tells him excitedly, practically bouncing where he stands.

“Did he now?” Phil looks down at Tony in feigned surprise, “That was very brave, Tony. I’m very proud of you! We should never let bullies have their way, and you did a very good job getting him to leave.”

Jane hands Steve his inhaler and makes him take it, not wanting the stress of the situation to cause him to have an attack, then pulls both him and Bruce in for a hug.

“You are all very brave, you know that?” she praises them with a smile.

They accept the praise gratefully, then insist that they go to one of the stands in the park for some ice cream. Phil and Jane agree, getting a cone for each of them, and one for themselves. The rest of their day at the park goes without incident, and they leave just as the kids start to get hungry. Phil thanks the small indentation by where their blanket sat while Jane gets the kids settled in the car. He feels a faint brush of lips against his cheek and a whispered promise to be there whenever he needs them.

That night, after dinner, Jane emerges from cleaning up the kitchen to one of the best sights she’s seen since the incident. All of the kids are wearing superhero pajamas that parallel their Avengers uniforms. Bruce is laying on the floor reading his neurology book for the fourth time; Steve is sitting at his little easel, coloring a picture of their house; Tony is building another lego tower, though this one looks more like a building; while Thor, Clint and Natasha play superheroes, with Clint firing foam arrows from his plastic bow, Thor has a child sized replica of Mjolnir that he’s waving around, and Natasha is somehow managing to wield a nerf gun while swinging from one of the curtains. She stands there for a few minutes, just watching them play, before glancing at the clock and announcing that it’s time for bed.

The kids all moan and groan as they usually do, but they settle quickly when Phil brings the big basket of books out into the living room and lets them each pick one. He settles on the middle of the couch, the kids piling around him, and he reads them their stories. Several of them fall asleep before story time is finished, so Phil and Jane gently carry them into their rooms and put them to bed. It’s been a long day, and everyone sleeps soundly.

***

When Jane almost sits on Mjolnir’s handle for the hundredth time that week, as no one in the house is able to move the hammer from the middle of the arm chair where it had been left, she wonders if it would be a ridiculous idea to call Asgard and see if anyone there could come and move it. As she gives the idea some thought, she realizes that no one had contacted Odin to see if they knew of any way to help, or could at least point them in the right direction. Since their son, the heir to the throne, is one of the people effected, involving them in the search for a fix would be a good idea. So, as soon as breakfast is over and cleaned up, she takes Thor’s hand and goes out into the lawn, making sure that Phil draws the drapes closed so that the other kids don’t interrupt them. She stands in the center of the large backyard, and looks up to the sky.

“Heimdall?” she calls out to the heavens, “I know it’s unusual for us to contact you this way, but we were hoping someone from Asgard might be able to assist us.”

A strange rainbow of light plummets from the sky and lands in front of her, carrying within it a person she doesn’t recognize. It startles her, as she wasn’t expect an answer quite so fast, and she takes a stumbling step backwards, though Thor stands his ground. When the light vanishes, and older man in gold armor stands in the middle of the black runic markings the light had left in the grass.

“Father!” Thor exclaims and runs up to the man.

Odin kneels and gives his son a quick hug. When he releases the boy, he gestures to the house.

“I would speak with your guardian, my son. Go and join your comrades in their play,” he suggest, smiling when Thor immediately takes off for the house. Then Odin stands once again and turns to Jane, “We are aware of what this strange stone has done, and we have been searching all of Asgard, as well as the other seven realms, for any information which could explain how to reverse it. But we have been unsuccessful as of yet. I fear that if we do not find a solution soon, what ever spell has done this may no longer be reversible,” he informs her in a soft, almost sad voice.

“You mean they’d stay like this forever?!” Jane cries, feeling a tear escape her and run down her cheek, “No, just… no. I can’t accept that. There has to be some way to bring them back. What about… did you ask Loki? Could he have done this?”

“Loki is a spell smith of unparalleled talent, it is true, but we do not believe he had aught to do with what has happened. We have spoken to him, both my wife and I, and it does not seem likely he was involved,” Odin lays a large hand on her shoulder in comfort, “We will continue searching for an answer, Lady Jane. But I would not give you a false hope. While there is still a chance that one of the many people who are searching will find a cure, you must also prepare yourself for the less favorable outcome.”

Jane nods and wipes the tears from her eyes.

“Will you be taking him back to Asgard, then?” she asks, trying to keep the despair from her voice.

“No,” he says gently, “There is no need to remove him from his friends. If no cure can be found, then we will bring him home when the time is right for him to begin his warrior’s training again. But for now, I believe it is in his best interest for him to stay here.”

“Thank you,” Jane says, smiling at the king gratefully, “Um… I hate to ask… but is Thor the only person on Asgard who can lift Mjolnir? Before this all happened, Thor left it in a rather inconvenient spot, and…”

Odin laughs good-naturedly at the request and gives her a smile.

“I am able to wield the hammer. I shall move it for you before I leave. Now, where are the children? It would be quite rude of me to leave my son without first greeting his comrades and saying my goodbyes.”

Jane leads Odin into the house, and takes him into the gym turned play room. The kids immediately stop their play when they walk in, and Thor introduces them to the king.

“This is my father, King Odin of Asgard. Lady Jane called him to see if he knew of the stone which took our memories.”

“So, you’re a real king right?” Tony asks, walking up to the man and offering his hand for a handshake, which Odin gives, “Do you have an army and a scepter and a throne and things like that?”

“I have all of those things, young one. Perhaps someday when you are older, you can come and visit and I will show them to you,” Odin offers, earning a huge grin from the boy.

He greets each of the children in turn, keeping his appearance non-threatening when Bruce and Clint approach to shake his hand. As he finishes shaking Clint’s small hand, he gently places a hand on the side of the boy’s head and tilts it up to meet his eyes.

“You are one of the bravest warriors I have ever had the pleasure to meet, young Clinton. Never doubt yourself, because your strength of heart, your strength of will… in all the nine realms I have never met a man with half of the strength you possess. Do not forget that.” Odin stands, leaving a very confused Clint looking up at him. “I must leave now, children. It was a pleasure to meet all of you. Be good for your parents. And Thor, behave for your guardians as you would your mother and I.”

“I will, father. Safe travels,” Thor nods and bows slightly at Odin, before returning to the game they’d been playing.

Before he leaves the room, Odin shakes Phil’s hand firmly, giving him a knowing look, one filled with apology. Phil nods, accepting the look for what it means, then turns back to the children. Odin follows Jane to the living room and picks the hammer up from the arm chair effortlessly. He sets it on the end table next to the chair, and goes to the back door. Jane leads him back to the burned patch in the yard, and offers a hand.

“Thank you, for what you said to Clint. I know it took him awhile to feel like he actually belonged on the team after what happened in New York,” she says as she shakes Odin’s hand.

“The man he was did not deserve the pain my son put him through. I am glad to know he found peace with this family,” Odin observes, then pulls Jane into a fierce hug, “You are a strong woman, Jane Foster. Do not lose heart. You have a great many people by your side.”

Jane takes a moment to wipe away a few more tears as she watches Odin leave, then she turns back to the house, comforted by the knowledge that she’s not alone.

***

As soon as Jane leaves with Odin, the kids start bouncing up and down with excitement.

“Did you hear that?! He said I was the strongest warrior in the whole universe!” Clint exclaims, so happy he looks like he’s a bout to pop.

“He said he’d show me around Asgard when I get older!” Tony chimes in, equally as excited.

“I am the bravest warrior in all of Asgard! King Thor! Our enemies are attacking the palace gates! We must do something!” Clint calls out, grabbing his plastic bow and arrows, jumping off the weight bench and landing next to Thor.

“Sound the alarm!” Bruce adds, grabbing a foam sword, “We must protect the king!”

The others race to find weapons to fend against the attackers, and Phil turns to go and check on Jane.

“Stop Frost Giant!” Thor shouts at him, “You and your armies are no match for me and mine!”

“Is that so, oh mighty king Thor?” Phil quips, turning and raising his arms in surrender, “Then you know nothing of our strength. We will squash you like bugs!”

“You will never get past us!” Clint insists, drawing back a nerf arrow and pointing it at Phil. In his excitement, he doesn’t hold on to the arrow, and it flies, striking Phil in the shoulder.

For a moment, the room is silent as they wait to see how their Daddy will respond to getting shot. Phil smiles wide and clutches his shoulder where the arrow hit him, falling to his knees. He does an impressive dodge roll, grabbing the gun from Tasha’s hands, wrapping his arms around her chest and pulling her close, sneering at the other children.

“You thin you can best me with your puny weapons? I am the son of Coul! You will never defeat me!”

Huge grins light up all of their faces, before turning to shock and feigned anger that the Frost Giant has dared defy them.

“Unhand our sister you coward!” Steve cries out, firing his shotgun at Phil’s head.

He dodges again, releasing Tasha, then finds himself being tackled by four bodies, calling out for vengeance for their injured sister. After fighting against his attackers, Phil finally gives up the fight, and allows himself to be tied to the weight bench with the blankets they’d brought in that morning, intending on making a fort.

Just then Jane walks in and sees what’s happening. They turn on her, weapons at the ready.

“Another Frost Giant!” cries Natasha, pointing her gun at Jane, “Tell us where the cookies are giant, or we will torture this one for information!”

“Oh no! Please don’t hurt him!” Jane pleads, falling to her knees and raising her arms above her head, “I’ll tell you what you want to know, just please… please don’t hurt him!”

They release Phil and run to the kitchen for their reward, demanding more until Jane cuts them off so they don’t spoil their lunch.

After their snack is over, they grab all their blankets and pillows and bring them into the living room to make their intended fort, which they are now calling their palace. Clint builds a nest on top of the now freed arm chair, crouching in it and warning away any who would dare trespass. Tony, Natasha and Steve protect the entrance, while Thor and his advisor Bruce stay safe within the palace walls.

They play until lunch time, and then Phil and Jane both insist they at least pick up the nerf arrows and bullets that are, by that time, littering the floor of the living room. They watch a movie from their blanket fort after lunch, then plead with their parents to let them play outside until dinner. They rush out the door once they’ve gotten permission, immediately starting up a game of hide and seek.

***

Jane is sitting at the dining room table, going over some of the notes Richards and Strange have sent her regarding possible ways to test the stone, when Tony comes bursting through the back door, tears in his eyes.

“Mommy! Steve fell over and he can’t breathe!”

Jane jumps up from the table and grabs Steve’s inhaler from the counter, rushing out into the yard, yelling at JARVIS to get Phil and have him get the nebulizer set up. She reaches Steve, who is lying in Thor’s lap, holding weakly onto Natasha’s hand, and tips his head back, opening his airway, puffing the inhaler into his mouth. It helps him a little, but not enough, so she carefully picks Steve up and carries him into the house, glad when she sees Phil in the living room, finishing up the preparations to the nebulizer. They lay him down on the couch and put the oxygen mask over his face, turning the machine on and letting it work. Jane keeps the kids back, holding as many of them close as she can until Steve’s breathing stabilizes.

It doesn’t take very long for Steve to recover, and Jane finally lets go of the kids once the nebulizer is put away, and they crowd around their brother, asking him multiple times if he’s okay. Phil gives the boy a quick kiss on the forehead, then puts the nebulizer back in the hall bathroom.

“You need to remember to be careful, Steve,” Jane says gently, taking his hand and giving him a kiss as well, “If you start having problems breathing, you need to stop and take a break, okay?”

Steve nods and gives her a hug.

“I’m sorry, Mommy. We were just having so much fun, I didn’t want to stop.”

“I know, sweetheart. But you can always take a quick break and then go back to playing later.”

She leaves the boy with his siblings, and goes into the kitchen to start on dinner. The kids return to playing in their blanket fort, forming two separate teams and starting a war to see who will win control of the castle. Phil joins Jane in the kitchen, his face still a little pale.

“We need to keep a closer eye on Steve if they’re going to play outside,” he comments, taking a few or the vegetables from her pile and starting to chop them. It’s become habit for the two of them to cook dinner together while the kids play or watch a movie. It gives them some time to talk and discuss things without worrying about the kids overhearing them.

“Yeah. I know he hates the idea of stopping the other kids’ play time, but I don’t want him feeling even worse when he has an attack. And Erik said we shouldn’t use the nebulizer too often. We’ll make sure at least one of us is outside with them when they play,” she agrees, “It means less work we can get done, but I’d rather that than Steve keep having attacks.”

“On the work note, I was actually on the phone with Fury when this all happened. He told me, and told me to tell you, that you and I are officially on administrative leave until further notice. He said that taking care of the kids takes precedence, and that he’ll appoint stand-ins for our jobs until we can return to them. I think he’s still alright with you looking over the notes from the lab on how to fix this, but other than that… being parents is our job right now,” he informs her, holding up a hand when she goes to protest, “No buts. He’s right. If we keep trying to split our focus, the kids are the ones who are going to end up getting hurt in the long run. And if it turns out that we can’t fix this…”

“Don’t,” Jane says vehemently, grabbing his hand in the air, “They _will_ go back to normal. They have to.”

Before either of them can say any more on the topic, Clint comes into the kitchen, crying softly and wiping his hands over his eyes. Tony runs in immediately after him, also crying, and barrels into Phil’s legs.

“You can’t let it happen, Daddy! You have to stop it! Please don’t let it happen!” the brunette sobs into Phil’s pants.

Clint rushes over to Jane and wraps his arms around her legs. The both kneels down and take the boys in their arms.

“Can’t let what happen, Tony? What’s wrong?” Phil asks, concerned.

“Steve!” the boy says, crying even harder, “You can’t let him die! You can’t!”

Worried that Steve has had a relapse of his attack, which they were told shouldn’t happen after he’d been on the nebulizer, Phil and Jane rush into the living room carrying the two boys. Steve is sitting on the couch, tears running down his face quietly. Thor is sitting next to him, an arm slung around Steve’s shoulders in a protective manner, while the other two sit on the floor crying into their hands. Phil sets Tony down on the couch next to Thor, who is visibly upset, but doesn’t appear to be crying like the others, and takes Steve’s hands in his.

“Steve? What’s wrong? What’s happened?” asks Phil, worry in his voice.

“My lungs don’t work right. That’s why sometimes I can’t breathe. And if you can’t breathe, you die. So someday I’m going to die cause my lungs are broken.” Steve sobs, throwing his arms around Phil’s neck and burying his head in his shoulder.

Jane gently sets Clint down next to Bruce and puts an arm around Steve and Phil.

“Steve, honey. I know it’s really scary when you can’t breathe, and it feels like you’re going to die, but that’s what the medicine is for,” Jane assures him in a soft, comforting voice, “And as long as you have your medicine, even if you have a really bad attack like you did today, you’ll be fine. And the doctor says the asthma should go away when you get older. We just have to be careful, okay? You won’t die, I promise.”

“Really?” Steve asks, looking up at her.

“Really, really. You’re going to be just fine. Mommy and Daddy will make sure of it. We won’t let anything happen to you,” she promises, looking at Phil, who nods in agreement when the boy looks at him, “Now, dinner’s almost ready. Why don’t you guys come in the kitchen and help me set the table, alright?”

Once dinner is over and put away, Jane puts on a movie, hoping to keep the kids from thinking about what they think is Steve’s impending demise. As she finishes up the dishes, she wonders if Steve often thought about dying when he was young the first time, and how scary that must have been to think every day was his last, having to face his own mortality before he was old enough to even start enjoying life. She lets Steve sleep in her room that night, holding him close and whispering promises to him while he dreams.

***

“What are you building there, Tony?” Phil asks, surprised that the boy isn’t sitting on his lap, as the other children aren’t up yet.

“I’m building a new dollhouse for Tasha. She said hers is too small, and the dolls don’t all fit, so I’m making her a much bigger one she can play with,” Tony informs him, stacking up the legos to make walls, and adding in a hinge so it opens in the front.

“That’s very nice of you,” Phil praises, setting his paper aside and joining the boy on the floor, “Can I help you?”

“Sure!” Tony agrees readily, handing Phil some pieces and telling him where they go.

They spend the majority of their normally quiet morning time building the new dollhouse. When Tasha comes out of her room, she gives Tony a huge hug and thanks him multiple times for the new dollhouse. Breakfast ends up being a little delayed. Once the other kids are up, they all insist on playing dolls with the new dollhouse, and it takes an almost herculean effort to convince them to stop for long enough to eat something.

Later that afternoon, Jane pulls out a bunch of paper plates and crayons, and the kids make animal masks to play in. Thor chooses a lion and makes roaring sounds anytime someone talks to him. Natasha, unsurprisingly, chooses a black cat. Bruce decides to be a mouse, while Tony chooses a raven, because they’re one of the smartest animals on the planet. Steve picks an eagle. Clint just stares at his plate and the crayons. Phil cautiously sits down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Can’t decide on what kind of animal you want to be?” he asks.

“I wanna be a bird, but Tony and Steve took the good ones,” Clint sighs, pushing his plate away.

“Well there are lots of different kinds of birds out there. There are parrots, and toucans, and falcons, and pelicans, and flamingos, and…”

“What’s your favorite bird, Daddy?” Clint interrupts.

Jane looks up from the other side of the table and grins widely at Phil. Phil grins back, then turns the grin to Clint.

“My favorite bird is a hawk. They’re smart, fast, and one of the best hunters in the whole world. Even better than lions most of the time.”

“Really?! Better than a lion?” Clint’s eyes light up, and he smiles.

“Yep. They’re my personal favorite,” Phil assures him, picking up a black crayon and handing it to the boy, “Shall we make you a hawk mask?”

Clint nods enthusiastically and starts coloring on his plate with Phil’s help. They spend the rest of the day running around as animals, playing in the still constructed blanket fort until well past dinner time.

 

 

[](https://postimg.org/image/7hhp84891/)   
[post img](https://postimage.org/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought!
> 
> SPECIAL THANKS to charis2770 for drawing me the tinyvengers in their pajamas!!!!!!


	6. Emotional Turmoil

”Hey Bruce,” Tony asks one day while he, Clint, Bruce, and Natasha are coloring in the play room. Phil had taken Steve to the tower for a check-up, and Thor had gone with them. “How come you never get mad?”

“I do get mad, Tony. I just never show it,” Bruce answers, his eyes never leaving the picture of the Fantastic Four he’s been working on for the last hour.

“How come? You know, that psychology book Dr. Seleck brought me said that it’s healthy to let off some steam every once in a while. If you keep it bottled up it can end up causing you mental damage,” Tony remarks.

“His name is Dr. Selvig, and I don’t let my anger out because if I do, something bad will happen,” Bruce explains with a sigh, as though Tony should already know this.

“Why would something bad happen?” Natasha inquires from the other side of the table, suddenly interested in the conversation.

“Because bad things always happen when people get angry,” Bruce says matter-of-factly, and Clint nods in agreement.

“Nothing bad happened when I got mad at our tower when it kept falling over. And the same when Thor accidentally broke Clint’s nerf bow. Clint was mad for the whole day, but nothing bad happened. He was just mad. Then Daddy got him a new one, and everything was fine,” Tony reasons, picking up a new crayon for his picture.

“I know that,” Bruce sighs, “But I still feel like if I get mad something bad _will_ happen. So I can’t get mad. Just incase.”

“That’s silly,” Tony insists, then takes his crayon and scribbles all over Bruce’s paper.

“Tony!” Natasha yells at him.

Bruce sighs again and pushes the ruined page to the side, pulling another one from the pile. Tony immediately scribbles on that one too.

“Tony, stop,” Bruce says glaring slightly at his brother, “I’m not going to get mad at you no matter how many coloring pages you ruin.”

Tony doesn’t respond, just shoves Bruce down to the floor. Bruce continues to glare, and rights himself, immediately getting pushed down again by Tony.

“Tony, you better stop,” Clint warns, “Or I’m gonna go get Mommy.”

“Don’t be such a tattle-tale Clint,” Tony sneers.

“I am _not_ a tattle-tale!” insists Clint, “But you’re hurting Bruce and that’s not nice!”

“I’m not either hurting him. I’m just trying to make him get mad. So he doesn’t end up like the crazy people I read about.”

“I’m not gonna go crazy just cause I don’t want to get mad, Tony,” Bruce says, righting himself for the third time. This time Tony lets him be, “And I read your book, remember? It said that people handle emotions in all different kids of ways. So just because throwing a tantrum works for you, doesn’t mean it’ll necessarily work for me.”

“Smarty pants,” Tony huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. He’d forgotten that Bruce had borrowed his book, “The book also said that some people don’t have emotions at all. You’re probably one of them. Like those criminals and monsters they show on the TV.”

“I am not a monster!” Bruce suddenly shouts at Tony, standing and balling his fists at his side, “You take that back right now!”

“You are too!” Tony yells back, standing as well, “You never show any emotion at all! You just sit there like nothing’s wrong!”

Bruce launches himself at Tony, yanking on the other brunette’s hair, smacking his arms and shoulders with his fists, even biting one of Tony’s arms when Tony raises it and starts hitting back. Clint jumps up and runs into the other room, screaming for Mommy to come and stop them. Jane comes rushing into the room, Clint hot on her heels, and grabs Bruce by the collar, pulling him away from Tony.

“What on earth is going on? What happened?” she asks, checking them both over for damage.

“Tony told Bruce he needed to get mad, Bruce said something bad would happen if he did, then Tony ruined Bruce’s picture and pushed him a whole bunch and called him a monster, so Bruce attacked him,” Tasha informs Jane, taking Clint’s hand to offer him some comfort.

“Tony!” Jane turns to the boy and admonishes him, “That was very mean of you. You don’t treat your brother like that.”

“But I proved my point!” Tony defends himself, “Bruce got mad and nothing bad happened!”

“I’d say the bite on your arm proves otherwise, young man. Now, you apologize to Bruce. And Bruce, when people make us mad, we talk about things. We don’t attack them. You apologize to Tony too.”

The boys both mumble their apologies, scuffing their feet on the floor, and give each other a hug. Then Jane takes them both into the bathroom and gets them cleaned up, disinfecting Tony’s arm, and grabbing an ice pack for Bruce’s eye where Tony’s elbow had clocked him. Once their cleaned up, and have promised not to fight anymore, Jane goes back to the living room to grab the notes she’s been going over, and comes to sit in the play room with them.

“See,” Tony says as soon as Jane is out of ear shot, “I was right.”

“I hurt you, and in trying to prove your point, you hurt me. How does that make you right?” Bruce sighs, picking out a new coloring page and sitting back down at their little table.

“No one died did they?” Tony says cheerily, taking his own seat.

Bruce drops his head to the table with a quiet ‘thunk.’

“You have a very strange definition of bad.”

***

Jane sits at the dining room table after the kids have gone to bed, staring at a picture of her and Thor. It’s been two weeks since the Avengers were mysteriously turned into children, and they are no closer to a solution than they were when they started looking. She see Phil sit in the chair next to her, but doesn’t turn to him, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Two weeks, Phil. Two weeks. And no one has any idea about how to fix this. I can’t… I can’t keep doing this…” she drops her head into her hands and her shoulders shake with sobs, “Are they gone? Have we lost them forever?”

Phil puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls her to his chest, rubbing her back soothingly.

“No. We can’t give up hope, Jane. We just have to… be patient. I know it’s hard, believe me, I know, but we can’t lose faith that they’ll come back to us.”

“How can you be so calm?!” Jane yells, pushing away from Phil and standing so quickly her chair falls backwards, “Don’t you care that they’re gone?!”

Phil stands along with her, and lets go of his veneer of calm, his face becoming immediately haggard and exhausted.

“Jane, of course I care. I miss them just as much as you do. I miss Clint’s laugh. I miss Tasha’s meaningless threats. I even miss Steve’s culture questions, and Tony’s bragging. I miss _all_ of them,” Phil sits back down abruptly, shoulders sagging. He reaches up a hand a wipes a tear from his cheek, “I miss them horribly. And I understand how you feel. Some mornings, when we’re sitting around eating breakfast, I can smile at the cute faces around the table. Others… I look around at those innocent faces, and all I see are the people they were, the people they _will_ be again… and it breaks my heart. Because there’s always that niggling feeling in the back of my mind that says they won’t come back, that I’ll never see any of them again,” he stands again and puts his hands on Jane’s shoulders, pulling her back towards him, “But I can’t focus on that. _I can’t_. Because if I do… I’d never get out of bed in the morning. They need us, remember?”

“I know that,” Jane cries quietly into Phil’s shoulder, “But what if they don’t come back? What if they’re stuck like this? What do we do then?”

Phil quickly rights Jane’s chair and gently lowers her into it, taking his own seat as well. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box.

“I was going to wait until much later to show this to you, but now seems an appropriate time,” he opens the box and sets it on the table next to her. Inside are two gold bands, “It’s not what either of us wants, but if we haven’t figured out a way to change them back in six months… then I think it’s the best option. It’ll be easier to raise them if we’re an official family. Less prying eyes from the neighbors and the like. Fury already has the adoption paperwork ready, just waiting for us to sign when we’re ready. We’d take them away from this house, away from the lives they used to lead. You and I could find normal jobs, and we’d raise them. Together. Because if this _can’t_ be fixed, I’m not going to abandon them, and I know you won’t either. It’d be hard, and we’d hate the necessity of it, maybe even resent each other a little because of it. But it’s the best option I can come up with if we can’t fix this.”

Jane stares at the box for a few minutes in silence, and Phil lets her take the time to process what he’s said. After a bit, she reaches out a hand and closes the lid, pushing the box back towards him.

“In six months, I’ll accept that option. I won’t like it, and I’ll probably cry about it for weeks, but you’re right. If, _if_ this can’t be fixed, it’s the best option we have. But you’re also right that we can’t give up hope just yet,” she takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her disheveled hair, “I’m sorry for yelling at you like that. I know that you’re feeling the same way I am, and I shouldn’t have questioned your pain like that,” she looks up and gives him a little smile.

He smiles back at her, putting the box of rings back in his pocket.

“I should apologize to you as well. I’m so used to being in a situation where I can’t show my emotions, that I forgot you needed to see them. So, I’m sorry for that.”

“No, I’m the one who’s being fragile and weepy. I need to be stronger, less selfish. I need to stop focusing on what’s missing and focus more on what’s right here in front of me…” Jane says, her voice hardening.

Phil grabs her shoulders suddenly and shakes her just a bit.

“You’re wrong. You are strong. Missing Thor doesn’t make you selfish. And it’s hard _not_ to focus on what’s missing, when what’s right in front of you _is_ what’s missing. Don’t you ever call yourself fragile or weepy again. You’re not.”

He pulls her in to a hug, holding her firmly. She relaxes in the hold and lets a few more tears fall, feeling a few of his tears dampen her shirt as well.

“We’ll get through this. One way or another… we’ll get through this,” he promises in a whisper so soft she can barely hear it.

They sit in the kitchen holding each other until well into the night.

***

“What’s it like being a prince?” Steve inquires of Thor over dinner one evening.

“There is much schooling, and once I am older, I shall begin training to be a warrior. Then I shall be able to lift the mighty Mjolnir!” Thor exclaims with excitement.

“Sounds boring,” Says Tony, digging into his spaghetti, getting sauce all over his shirt.

“Tis not boring in the least, brother Tony,” Thor responds, his own mouth full, “But…” he pauses and looks a bit forlornly at his plate of food.

“But what?” prompts Bruce.

“It can be a bit… lonely sometimes. I see my teachers more than I am able to see my parents,” Thor admits, stirring his food aimlessly, “I have a brother on Asgard, but I do not think he likes me very much.”

“Why not?” Clint wants to know.

“Because he is the second born son. He will not be king unless something happens to me. I believe he resents me for this. He does not like spending time with me as much as you do. It has been nice to have sibling that enjoy playing with me,” comments Thor with sadness in his voice.

“Well, I think you’re brother is stupid. You’re a really nice person, and you help everyone, and you’re fun to play with, even though you talk kind of funny. But that’s not a bad thing!” Tony proclaims, stabbing his food angrily, “I think you’re brother sounds like an asshole.”

“Daddy! Tony said a bad word!” Steve informs Phil, almost as soon as the word is out of Tony’s mouth.

“Tony, you know we don’t say words like that. And it isn’t nice to talk about people that way. You don’t know what Thor’s brother is like,” Phil admonishes, though in his heart he whole heartedly agrees with the boy’s assessment of Loki.

“I know, Daddy, but isn’t it mean to resent someone just because they were born first?” Tony defends.

“It is, if that’s what Thor’s brother is actually feeling, but it still doesn’t excuse your language.”

“Okay,” Tony slumps in his seat begrudgingly, “I won’t say the bad word again.”

“Thank you. So Thor, why don’t you tell us about some of the things you’ve learned in your schooling on Asgard?” Phil asks, steering the conversation away from bad language and Thor’s feelings of loneliness.

Thor spends the rest of dinner telling them about the fun things he’s learned in his few years of life.

***

“Come on, Tasha. Just lift up your shirt so I can check your heart beat.” Clint insists, holding up a toy stethoscope in his hand.

“Okay. But blow on it so it isn’t cold,” Natasha agrees, pulling her shirt off.

Clint puffs on the plastic to warm it up, then presses the round end against her chest, somewhere near where her heart would be. He listens for a second, nodding thoughtfully at what he ‘hears.’

“Okay, next you gotta push your pants down a little so I can listen to your tummy,” comes Clint’s next direction, and Natasha obliges. Clint slides the little plastic stethoscope farther and farther down, until he’s sliding just under her panties.

“What are you doing?!” Jane yells, louder than she intended when she walks in the room and sees what’s happening.

The kids are all sitting, in various states of undress, watching Clint be Tasha’s ‘doctor.’ They all jump when she shouts, not expecting the noise, and trying to figure out what they’ve done to be in trouble.

“We’re playing doctor,” Bruce explains, holding up an anatomy book he’d recently acquired from Dr. Selvig and pointing to the diagram of the female body, “Clint is the doctor and Tasha is the patient. He’s checking her for any weird sounds that might mean she’s sick.”

Jane takes several deep breaths to calm herself before going to kneel next to the kids. She puts on a smile and helps Tasha back into her shirt.

“Let’s leaving the doctoring to people like Dr. Selvig, who have the schooling necessary to know what they’re listening for, alright? It isn’t appropriate to take off your clothes in front of each other like this,” she admonishes them kindly.

“But Mommy! It was my turn next! I wanna play doctor with Clint!” Tony whines, crossing his arms with a huff, his face drooping in a pout.

“Lady Jane, I am confused. We take off our clothes when we bathe, and we always bathe together. Why should taking off our clothes now be any different?” Thor asks, face scrunching up in confusion.

“Because… well because taking a bath is different than playing. And touching each other like this, when you’re not wearing clothes, isn’t appropriate either.” Jane explains, knowing how lame the explanation sounds. But Thor accepts it, and puts his shirt back on as well.

“Are we in trouble, Mommy?” Clint asks, handing her the stethoscope.

“No, sweetie,” Jane assures him, setting the stethoscope back in the play doctor’s bag, “I’m very glad you’re interested in the things in Bruce’s book. But playing doctor is a game for when you’re older.”

“Okay,” Clint jumps up and slides his pants back on, nearly tripping over his own feet as he does.

***

They are sitting watching cartoons one lazy morning, when a commercial for Disneyland comes on. It shows several thrilling rides, fantastic restaurants, favorite lovable characters, and the magnificent hotels available. All six of the children turn and jump on Phil, who is still sitting in his arm chair drinking his morning coffee, and demand to go to the wondrous Land of Disney.

“Please, Daddy? Please can we go?” Tasha asks, eyes as wide and bright as tiny suns.

“It showed grown ups having fun too! So you and Mommy wouldn’t be bored!” Tony chimes in, pulling on Phil’s sleeve.

“It could be an early Christmas present. Then you don’t have to get us gifts,” adds Steve, ever the bargainer.

Phil looks down at the sea of smiling, pleading faces and sighs internally. He couldn’t deny them, even if he wanted to. And, he finds, he doesn’t.

“I’ll have to talk to Mommy first, but if she says yes, then we can go,” he says, nearly deafened by the chorus of joyous ‘whoops’ that greet this statement.

The six kids run into the kitchen where Jane is making breakfast and ambush her as she’s taking a plate of pancakes to the table. She looks up at Phil when he enters, with a look that clearly wants to know if he’s actually gone mad, but she agrees. And while she gets the kids fed, Phil pulls out his phone and makes a few phone calls.

“We’re gonna go to Disneyland!!!!!” Tony yells at the top of his lungs, throwing both fists in the air.

***

“Disneyland?! Are you insane?” Pepper asks incredulously when Phil tells her what he needs, “I’d have to buy out the entire park just to make sure they stay safe!”

“There’s no need for something that dramatic,” Phil chuckles, “We have a super-powered security detail we’d bring with us, and Stark Industries buying out the entire park for three days looks a lot more suspicious. It’ll be fine. Nothing happened at the park the other day,” he reminds her.

“That was a city park. This is Disneyland,” she responds, unamused, “Which, I will grant you, is fairly safe all things considered, but it’s been nearly two weeks since you went to the park. Who knows how many of their enemies could be making plans to do horrible things to them right now?”

“Like I said, we have a security detail for handling those things. One of whom is a pre-cog. So I promise, we’ll be fine. Can you make the arrangements?”

“Fine. If you say you’ll be fine, I believe you. Yes, I can make the arrangements. But you’re taking the private jet, and I’m getting you the largest suite the hotel has. Do I need to make arrangements for your security detail as well?” inquires Pepper, immediately going into business mode.

“Thank you for the jet,” Phil says gratefully, “I wasn’t really looking forward to taking them through an airport. And I’d rather us be in one room, so that part’s perfectly fine. So long as it has enough beds. The kids can share, but I think it would make the trip a hundred times more awkward if Jane and I had to share. And yes, if you could make arrangements for them as well, that would be great. Four women. And if you could make the rooms as close to our room as possible, that would also be appreciated. Though, one of them can walk through walls, so that’s almost a moot point…”

He finishes up his conversation with Pepper and dials Susan, knowing she’s going to love the idea.

***

“Okay, I’ve spoken to both Xavier and Sue. They’re ready to go as soon as we have the flight lined up,” Phil informs Jane later that evening, “Sue will stay with us while we’re at the park. Our invisible tail. She go to the start of the ride with us, and then meet up with us back at the end. The other three will have express permission from the park to stay on top of buildings and will follow us from a distance. I’m going to stay on coms, but that shouldn’t effect the trip any. I’m used to the double focus.”

“You know,” Jane comments, watching Phil’s face as he tells her about their security detail, “I think you’re almost more excited for this trip than the kids are.”

Phil laughs and walks her through the brochure Pepper had sent over. They spend the rest of the evening making out an itinerary they can give to Susan as a guideline for where they plan on going each day.

When they wake up the next morning, Pepper has sent them a complete flight plan, along with eight VIP tickets to the park, and the hotel reservation. By the time Jane has the kids fed, Phil has finished packing their bags, and they walk out the door, ready for their adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're off to Disneyland!!
> 
> Again, though it probably says it beneath this, this is not a Phil/Jane story. But what they're going through could definitely not be described as easy.
> 
> Please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought! I love hearing from you guys!


	7. Disneyland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THE NOTES AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER!!!!

The ride to the airport is much more animated this time than when they'd gone to the park. Jane puts on a CD of Disney music and the kids sing along at the top of their lungs the entire car trip. The plane is fueled and ready to leave as soon as they get to the tarmac, (Phil and Jane both send Pepper thank you texts. Neither of them even want to think about how they would have kept the kids calm if they'd had to wait,) and they take off just a few minutes after they get there.

The kids pause in their excitement for the trip to ogle at the jet and then fight over who gets the best window seat. Jane sits in the middle of the children, while Phil sits near the front so he can speak with their security detail before they arrive.The kids naturally want to know who the four women on the plane are, but Jane explains that they are the jet's staff. Susan flies the plane, with Psylocke as the co-pilot, and Phil explains what his idea for protocol should be to Rogue and Shadowcat. They agree with his assessment of the mission, informing him that they'll be taking night shifts protecting the suite the family will be staying in, and that they'll keep him apprised of any threats or news via the coms.

Jane puts the Disney CD on in the jet, and it keeps the kids entertained and occupied for the entire flight. They take a short break from the music half way through the flight for food, then the kids go back to singing and talking to each other about all the fun things they want to do. Tony, Thor, and Clint are the most excited for the rides, wanting to go on every single one multiple times; Bruce and Natasha are most excited to meet the characters, and Natasha reminds Jane for the fifth time that day that she wants to meet Jasmine first; Jane asks Steve several times what he's the most excited for, and. his response is always that he's excited to have fun. By this time, Jane knows that Steve gets excited for whatever his brothers and sister are excited about, so after the third time of trying to get him to answer, she leaves the question be. But she makes a mental note to keep an eye on what his eyes light up at, and make sure they include his wants into their itinerary.

Once they land, the first order of business is to get checked into the hotel. Pepper has booked them in the El Capitan Signature Suite at The Grand Californian Hotel, just a short walk to the park. When they arrive, the concierge hands Phil a card which is accepted at any restaurant and store within the park, with everything being billed to the hotel room. Phil smiles at Pepper's thoughtfulness to include it when she made the arrangements. He's not sure his bank account is up to fulfilling every wish and demand of six children. He wonders for a moment if he's spoiling them too much, but pushes the thought away. This is a vacation, one everyone in the house deserves, and he's going to spoil them rotten. A look at Jane shows that she'd had the exact same thought and come to the exact same conclusion.

When they enter the hotel suite, even the adults have to stop for a moment and take in the sheer size of it. There is a full living room, complete with a large flat screen TV and fireplace; a dining room that seats eight and a full kitchen with all the amenities; an office and a bathroom with a luxurious spa sized tub; and two bedrooms, one with a king sized bed, and the other with two queens. They've also been informed that the couch in the living room pulls out to make another queen sized bed.

"I'll take the king and three kids if you take a queen and the other three," Jane offers in a whisper, looking around the suite in awe.

"Done," Phil agrees readily. He'd been about to offer the same thing.

The view from the balcony is breathtaking, and Jane takes a few minutes just to stare out at the park. She makes a silent promise to herself that once things are back to normal, (and they will be, she assures herself,) that they are coming back here. The adult Avengers could use a vacation as much as anyone, and this would be the perfect place to bring them. When she feels a small hand tugging on her shirt, she leaves the beautiful view and goes back inside.

It's mid-afternoon when they arrive, and Pepper had booked them for a five day stay, despite Phil's original plan to only stay for three. She had also sent them a box of new clothing for the trip, (including halloween dress-up costumes of each Avenger, which Phil is certain he'll be killed for putting them in, but resolves to do it anyway,) and instructions to take as many pictures and videos as humanly possible. Phil reads over her note one last time before stowing their suitcases in the appropriate rooms and joining Jane and the kids in the living room to go over the plan for the next few days.

The hotel itself has a variety of features that both adults plan to make full use of. There's an activity center designed just for children, with computers, and video games, and quiet areas for reading and drawing. Jane informs the kids that they need to spend at least two hours there a day, giving Tony a stern look when he objects. Knowing Steve and Bruce, they are both going to be overwhelmed by all the noise and people at the parks, so making sure they have some guaranteed quiet time at some point should make things a little easier on the two boys. Plus there's a spa at the hotel that has a long list of things she wants to try, and a few she'd like to push Phil into doing. This vacation is as much for them as it is for the kids, possibly even more so, and she wants to make sure he takes at least a little break from being Super Secret Agent Dad

About half an hour after they'd arrived at their room, there is a knock on their door. Confused, and slightly concerned, Phil answers it. But instead of one of the X-Men with a problem, Mickey and Minnie Mouse are there, with a cart full of presents and treats. Phil lets them in with a smile, and the kids practically screech with excitement when they see the two characters. They open their presents to find personalized Mickey Mouse hats with their names on them, soft fleece blankets with pictures of their favorite characters, a stuffed animal for each child, along with tee-shirts, sweatshirts, and autograph book (both characters make sure to sign each book,) and more candy and snacks than they could possibly eat. At least in one sitting.

Mickey and Minnie stay for nearly an hour, and the kids enjoy every single second of it. When it's time for them to go, they give the characters hugs goodbye, then show their parents their gifts for the fifth or sixth time since opening them. With the knowledge that the kids won't calm down on their own, Phil announces that it's time to go to the activity center for a little quiet time before dinner. Strangely, and to the surprise of both adults, there is no griping about going, as it's something new and all the kids are excited to see the area. Jane grabs Bruce's bag of books and Steve's art supplies and they traipse down to the hotel's activity center. Phil sits at the table with Steve while he draws and Jane takes Bruce over to the bean bag corner to read with him, while the other kids run to the video gaming station and start up a racing game. The center proves to be exactly what the doctor ordered. It calms the kids down slightly from their excitement, though it doesn't diminish it in the slightest, and dinner at the Storyteller's Cafe is a loud, but rather uneventful affair. Though when the kids see that they can eat breakfast with some of their favorite characters, Phil and Jane have to promise multiple times that they'll come back in the morning.

When the kids finally tumble into bed that night, (Bruce, Clint, and Thor sleep in the king sized bed with Jane, while Steve, Natasha, and Tony share the other room with Phil, and it takes him several minutes to convince them they have to sleep in the other bed and not pile into the queen with him,) they are exhausted, but extremely happy and ready for the next day's adventures.

***

True to her reputation for excellence above and beyond the call of duty, Pepper has arranged for a character wake-up call the next morning to precede their character breakfast. Ariel and Jasmine show up at the door just as Phil is pouring his second cup of coffee, and Tony immediately runs to wake the other children up, screaming that the princesses are here to see them. The kids get two more autographs to add to their book, and a royal escort down to breakfast, where Chip and Dale greet them along with Donald Duck and Peter Pan.

Once the kids are stuffed full to bursting, they head out to the park. Fantasyland is first on the agenda, and while most of the rides are slow, the kids enjoy each new experience with as much excitement as the last. The ride through Peter Pan's Flight, the Mad Tea Party, Dumbo, Casey Jr., and of course, It's a Small World, then take a tour of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. They eat lunch at the Village Haus Restaurant, and take several pictures by the statues of Pinocchio characters. They even get to meet Pinocchio himself, and get another autograph for their books. They venture into Mickey's Toontown after lunch, enjoying visiting all of the different character's houses, including Goofy's Playhouse, Donald's Boat, and Chip and Dale's Treehouse, adding even more autographs to their growing collection.

With all of the excitement, Steve's had to take his inhaler multiple times during the day, and Bruce is starting to cling to Jane's leg as the day nears its end, so they head back to the hotel for some quiet time in the room, opting to order room service and eat it, watching Disney movies until bedtime.

***

The next day, they go through Tomorrowland and Adventureland, skipping some of the more intense roller coasters as Steve and Tony are both too short to ride them, much to Tony's chagrin, though Steve seems more than fine with not riding them. As they are passing one of the many stands through out the park that sell various merchandise, the kids all insist on getting new hats. They'd worn their personalized Mickey Mouse hats, but seeing the other options, they naturally want to choose a second one. When Clint goes up to the stand, the lady behind the counter gestures to the hats on the 'boys' side of the display. But Clint has other ideas. He points at the pointy purple princess hat on the 'girls' side and demands to have it.

"Purple is my favorite color," he informs the cashier, and she pulls the hat down and hands it to him. With a little help from Jane, he gets the hat on and strikes a pose proclaiming, "I am the Wizard Supreme!"

Phil pulls out the camera and takes a picture, making sure to also take a video of Clint calling himself the 'wizard supreme,' and sending it to Stephen Strange. At the very least it should make the man smile.

They ride the Astro Blasters three times in a row, then have to take a short break after the Astro Orbitor as Natasha is feeling sick from the spinning. Once she's feeling a little better, they go on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and visit the Star Wars Launch Bay. The go to the Enchanted Tiki Room for lunch, and stay to watch the show, heading to the Jungle Cruise afterwards, and then having to ride it again because Thor wants to see the elephants one more time.

The afternoon is spent in Frontierland, with each child taking a turn at the Shootin' Exposition, and riding the slow water rides, which Jane and Phil have discovered are Steve's favorite. He loves to look at all the things they pass, trying to put his hand in the water as they ride the multiple different boats. As they head to the Stage Door Cafe for dinner, Steve informs them that the Mark Twain Riverboat is his 'favoritest' ride they've been on so far.

They stay out late, playing at the Pirate's Lair until it closes before heading back to the hotel to sleep.

New Orlean's Square quickly becomes the new favorite the next day, (or as the kids call it, Nerlean's Square,) and they ride the Pirates ride six times before Phil puts a stop to it, ready to shoot out the ride's speakers if he has to listen to the song one more time. They enjoy the Haunted Mansion, and take a ride on the Disneyland Railroad before swinging into Critter Country to see Winnie the Pooh and his friends, by request of Bruce. After lunch, and one last ride on Pirates, they watch the parade and visit Pixie Hollow to meet Tinker Bell, finishing out the night with dinner and staying up late to watch the fireworks show.

***

On the fourth day, while they wander around Main Street U.S.A., Phil hears chatter on the coms for the first time since they arrived.

"We have a situation," Psylocke's voice comes over the earpiece, "Hydra agents inbound. They'll be arriving in less than thirty minutes. Objective appears to be abduction. All children targeted. Advise to either return to hotel, or move to a restaurant or store, staying in a corner as much as possible."

Phil looks at Jane, his expression serious and more than slightly concerned. If Hydra is after the kids, that means somehow they've either found out about what happened to the Avengers, or think that the kids are budding superheroes and want to take them now, while their minds are still malleable. Phil can't decide which is the worse option.

Jane doesn't need a com to know that their's a problem. She raises her eyebrows in a silent question of what to do next, and Phil holds up a hand, telling her to wait where she is while he sorts out the situation. She nods, grabbing onto Tony and Thor's hands, as they are the most likely to wander off, and keeps the kid's interest on the items in the Gallery as best as she can, asking them questions and focusing their attention on something other than Daddy stepping away for a few moments. He feels safe leaving them as the enemies won't arrive for a little while, and he knows Susan will stay by them.

"Hotel option not viable. Too obvious, balcony unguardable. Is the enemy coming in stealthy, or any means necessary?" Phil asks, holding his phone to his ear so he won't look like a crazy person in a corner talking to himself, and draw any unnecessary attention.

"My vision says stealthy," Psylocke informs him, "But that might change if they meet resistance."

"If they're coming in as Hydra, they'll probably try to stick to stealthy as much as possible," comments Phil as he mental runs numbers and best escape options, "They're not really ones for the public spotlight. And kidnapping six children, leaving a mess behind them would certainly bring a lot of unwanted attention their way. I think the best option will be to continue on as though nothing has changed, keeping a hand on all of the kids. I don't want them to get suspicious if we stay in one spot too long. However, it's almost lunch time. We'll start heading for the Plaza Inn. Keep an ear and an eye out for hostiles. Inform me if anything changes. I'm counting on you guys to keep my family safe."

"Understood, Sir," comes Psylocke's response, immediately accepting Phil's more experienced evaluation and making the necessary changes in plan to accommodate his ideas.

Phil sees a movement out of the corner of his eye, and briefly glimpses a shock of white hair, the well known feature of Rogue's that makes her appearance so striking. He is immediately and immensely grateful for their presence. He shudders to think what Hydra could, and _would_ , do to the children if they got their hands on them. Rejoining Jane and the kids, Phil gives Jane a quick nod to let her know that they've come up with a plan, then asks the kids if they're ready for lunch. He picks up Steve, taking Natasha's hand, and putting Tony's hand on his belt loop, telling the boy to hold on. He does. A quick look at Jane, and she picks up Bruce, taking Clint's hand and telling Thor to hold on to her purse and not to let go until they reach the restaurant.

Unaware of the danger heading their way, the kids talk animatedly about what they're going to do next, who they still have left to meet, and the rides they still want to go on before the day is over. They ask for a corner booth at the restaurant, with Phil and Jane taking the outside positions. Psylocke keeps Phil updated on the situation, which starts as soon as they've placed their order for their food.

"Hostiles confirmed. They're heading for the restaurant now. Shadow, take out the waiter that just arrived. Rogue, two agents at your nine o'clock. One's on the phone, the other's eating an ice cream. Immobilize,"

Jane keeps the kids talking about the rest of the day's plans while Phil focuses on listening to the updates, ready to grab the kids and run if it comes down to it. A hand on his shoulder startles him and he jumps slightly, before remembering that Susan is right there with him, listening silently to the Psylocke's updates just like he is. Even without her superpowers, Phil knows Susan is a formidable force to be reckoned with, and with them... well, he sincerely hopes he's never on the receiving end of her anger. He lets himself relax just the slightest bit at her comforting touch, knowing that if push comes to shove, she'll put an energy barrier around them and the children, and as far as he knows, nothing can penetrate that. She'll have to become visible, and it will cause a lot of questions and leave one hell of a PR mess for Pepper to deal with, but as long as the children are safe, he doesn't care what else happens.

He is relieved, when by the time they are finishing up their meal, all the Hydra agents have been dealt with quietly, and Psylocke no longer sees any enemies in her pre-cognitive visions. At least for the next hour or so. When Steve starts having a little trouble breathing following lunch, Phil takes the opportunity and suggests they all go back to the hotel for a little while and hang out in the activity center. The kids agree, not wanting Steve to have an attack, and both Phil and Jane take the time to calm their nerves once Phil's brought her up to speed on what happened. Or rather, what _almost_ happened.

When Psylocke can see nothing further happening, they decide to go back out into the park, and finish their shopping visit to Main Street, buying the kids several toys and souvenirs.

***

On their last day at the park, Phil and Jane take turns going to the spa in the morning, while the kids are at the activity center. Jane gets a full massage and facial, while Phil opts for just the massage. They both leave the spa feeling refreshed after the stress of the day before.

They spend the day revisiting all of their favorite rides, (Phil supposes he should be grateful their favorite is the Pirates ride and not It's a Small World,) and doing some final shopping before they leave. They finish off the trip with a final meal at The Hungry Bear and one last visit to Mickey's Toontown to say goodbye to all the characters they've met.

As they drive to the airport to take the jet home, the kids slump in their seats, sad to be leaving, but also exhausted from the high energy trip. They fall asleep almost as soon as the plane takes off, and Phil and Jane quickly join them in slumber.

***

"Mommy? How come we haven't started school?" Natasha asks at breakfast the day after they return from their trip.

Jane finishes pouring the syrup on Clint's pancakes while she tries to think of an answer. She and Phil hadn't even discussed sending the kids to school, since they kept hoping that each new day would be the one they turned back. She gives Natasha a smile.

"Your Daddy and I think it'll be best if we homeschool you for a while," she explains smoothly, "Since Tony and Bruce are so much smarter than most kids your guys' age, it'll make things easier on them in the long run. And that way, we can monitor what you're learning and maybe even get you all to the point of skipping a grade or two, so Tony and Bruce won't be alone." It's a good lie if she does say so herself, and she's impressed she came up with it so fast. Though, then she has to question if that's a skill she should really be impressed with improving.

"Oh. Okay," Tasha says, accepting the explanation, "So then, we do we start home school?"

"Well," Jane stops for a second to think, "I suppose we could start today if everyone wants to."

"Yeah!" Tony cheers, always eager for more learning.

"Can we set up the play table in the play room like desks?" Steve asks, just as eager as the others.

"Sure," Jane agrees, running through her options for learning material. She looks up at the ceiling and hopes JARVIS is not only paying attention to the conversation, as he always does, but that he will see the look and anticipate her needs.

As soon as breakfast is cleaned up, Phil and Jane arrange the play tables in a desk like pattern in the play room, and Phil brings one of adult Tony's giant electronic boards up from the lab to use as a make-shift white board.

JARVIS, wonderful as always, supplies them with a complete lesson plan, including worksheets for all of the kids education levels. Jane teaches the kids Math and Science, showing them pictures of stars and galaxies, even pulling out her telescope and taking them up to the roof for a while to look at the moon and what few stars they can see during the day. She walks the genius' through some algebraic equations, and explains addition and subtraction to the others, using blocks to demonstrate the principles, since all of the children have proven to be more on the visual side of the learning scale. Phil, for his part, teaches Reading, Writing and Spelling, showing them how to form cursive letters, and how to sound out words when you've never seen them before. Then he teaches them a few of the easier rules when it comes to figuring out the way to spell a word. The kids' favorite rule is 'I before E, except after C, but only sometimes, because English is silly!' They take turns reading out of a book of beginner's poetry, stopping every so often to discuss what the verses mean, and showing how sometimes phrases mean different things to different people, depending on their own emotions and thoughts at the time.

They take a break for lunch, letting the kids take their food from the counter cafeteria style, and two small breaks for 'recess,' letting the kids go outside and play for fifteen to twenty minutes to burn off some of the energy they've pent up from sitting still for so long. It surprises both adults that the kids are happy sitting and learning for the entire day, as they don't stop 'school' until it's nearly dinner time, but they both decide it's more like a game for them than actual school would be.

When they tuck the kids in that night, after reading them their stories and giving them their kisses, several of the kids ask if they can go to school again tomorrow, and both Jane and Phil readily agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT!!!! READ BEFORE CONTINUING!!!
> 
> This is the last regular chapter of this story. The next two chapters are the endings. There are two. A 'good' ending, and a 'bad' ending. You may read one or both, up to you.
> 
> I had so much fun researching Disneyland for this chapter. Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought!


	8. The 'Good' Ending

One month after the initial incident that had turned the Avengers into children, the kids are sitting and playing in the living room under Phil's watchful gaze, while Jane is on the phone with Pepper giving her an update on what Richards and Strange have found, which amounts to exactly nothing.

“Hey!” Steve yells when Tony reaches over and grabs several of the legos Steve had been playing with, "I'm using those."

“Well, I need them for my building," Tony reasons, adding the pieces to his replica of the mansion he’s been working on for the last several days.

“You have your own pieces,” Steve complains, taking the pieces back, “I’m using these ones for the tower I’m building with Clint.”

"But I _need_ those pieces. They're perfect. You can use other pieces for your tower."

"I had these pieces first," Steve insists, keeping the pieces out of Tony's reach when the brunette tries to grab them out of his hands, "How come you can't use other pieces?"

"Because my building is more precise than your stupid tower," Tony says heatedly, finally grabbing the pieces from Steve.

"Our tower's not stupid!" Steve yells angrily.

"Yes it is!" Tony fires back, "My building's better cause I'm smarter than you!"

Steve doesn't even respond to the insult. His eyes start tearing up, and he runs over to the arm chair where Phil is sitting, launching himself into his Daddy's arms. Phil pulls him close and gives Tony a stern look. Tony shuffles over to them, shamefaced.

"Tony, that was a very mean thing to say to your brother," Phil admonishes the boy, "Just because you're smarter than the average five year old, doesn't mean Steve is stupid. You hurt his feelings when you said that. Would you like it if I called you stupid because you're not as smart as me?" Tony shakes his head at Phil's question, "No, you wouldn't. Now you need to apologize to Steve."

Tony taps Steve's arm and tries to smile when Steve looks up at him, tear tracks down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry I called you stupid. It was mean, and I didn't mean it. I just wanted to use the lego pieces. But you're right. You had them first, so you should get to use them. Can we be brothers again?" Tony asks, holding out his arms for a hug.

Steve turns away from Phil and slides to the floor, wrapping his arms around his brother's waist and pulling him close, Tony's arms going around his neck.

"I'm really sorry, Steve," Tony says again, "I love you."

The flash of light is blinding, and when it's gone, all six of the Avengers are suddenly back to their adult selves. Phil stares at them in shock, as though they're figments of his imagination and will vanish if he blinks. After a moment he buries his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he cries quietly with joy.

While Steve and Tony were the same size as children, as adults, Steve is taller than Tony, and as they are still hugging each other, Tony's feet don't quite touch the ground.

"Um... Steve?" Tony starts, voice slightly muffled by Steve's shirt.

"Yes?"

"Could you put me down?"

Steve immediately lets go of the brunette, and Tony drops to the ground, going to the couch and sitting very suddenly, eyes staring blankly ahead. Steve and Bruce join Tony on the couch, while Thor takes the other arm chair, and Clint and Natasha push the legos aside and take seats on the floor. Jane comes running in, having seen the bright flash of light, and wondering that happened.

"What was that? What happ..." When she sees them, back to their normal selves, she drops to her knees and sobs with relief, "Oh, thank God." 

She cries quietly for a few moments, then goes to the chair Phil's sitting in and sits on the arm, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, a huge smile plastered on her face.

Neither Phil nor Jane approach any of the Avengers. They'd spoke about what they would do when they turned back, and had decided that rushing them would be a bad plan. The first order of business would be to make sure they were physically alright, and then to see what they remembered. Because if it turned out they _did_ remember their time spent as children, then going back to being adults could be a difficult transition. 

The living room is silent for several long minutes as the Avengers all try to look anywhere but at each other. Phil lets the silence go on for a while before he speaks.

"Do you remember anything?" he asks quietly, "Are any of you hurt? Should I call in the doctor?"

Several heads shake in negation at the mention of a doctor, and the way they are all refusing to meet each other's eyes, keeping their heads down or turned away, makes Phil think they probably remember everything. This is confirmed when, a few moments later, Clint clears his throat.

"My step-father was a drunk," he says in a soft voice, surprising the rooms other occupants, "Liked to smack my mom and my brother and I around. I had whooping cough before he came around, and my mom couldn't afford to take me to the doctor. I ended up nearly deaf just before I turned three. He never understood that. Use to yell and scream at me, knock me to the floor when I didn't answer him. I had surgery just after I joined SHIELD. They couldn't repair the damage, but they implanted hearing aides in my ears. They work fine most of the time. Loud noises, like explosions, render me deaf for a little while though. I can't adjust the volume levels on them. But I learned from an early age how to hide, how to stay small, how to keep from being found. Both he and my mom were killed in a car crash when I was seven. The people who ran the orphanage I was sent to weren't much better. I got punished a lot for 'disobedience' or 'refusing to listen.' They never did figure out I was deaf. Thought I was just a problem child. First time I heard with the hearing aides, I nearly went crazy from the noise. They had to put me in a quiet room and slowly introduce me to sound until I could handle hearing a noise without immediately jumping out of my skin and going into fight mode. Took a while," he looks at Phil for a moment, meeting his eyes, "Fury didn't put it in my file because he didn't want handlers treating me any different, but I honestly thought you knew. I'm sorry. I should have made sure."

Phil shakes his head at the apology, and gives Clint a warm smile, letting him know he isn't mad or upset at not having known.

"My dad was obsessed with finding Captain America. It's all he ever really talked about when I was a kid," Tony says suddenly, his voice equally as quiet as Clint's, "At first, I thought it was cool. I'd hang on his every word when he told stories about the war. But then I started realizing that he cared more about the Captain then he did about me. I don't know whether I wasn't planned, or whether he was just a giant dick, but he never spent any time with me. I'd try to go in his shop and his lab, show him what I'd made, but nothing was ever good enough. He could always build something better than whatever design I'd come up with. I tried for a long time to earn his approval, but I never got it. So I gave up. Figured if I was going to be a disappointment anyway, might as well be good at that. My mom tried to be there, tried to be supportive, but she wasn't around either, always busy with some social function or another. They died thinking I was a disappointment to the family name."

Jane desperately wants to go over to Tony and pull him into a hug, but she doesn't think it would be welcomed now that he's back to being an adult. After another several moments of silence, Thor starts talking.

"I was raised my entire life to be king. Loki always resented me for being the first born, before he discovered he was adopted, and even my friends felt they did not belong at my side. As a child, those around me either wished to gain favor with my father, or wanted to use me to further their own ends. And while both my father and mother spent time with me when they could, keeping the nine realms safe is not a task either of them takes lightly, and they were frequently absent when I was young. Though I was trained to fight, and was eager for the glory of battle from a young age, I often felt that I was only ever seen as the prince, heir to the throne of Asgard, and never as myself."

"I was always sick as a kid," Steve starts as soon as Thor is finished, "Medicine wasn't as advanced as it is now, and there were several times growing up when we thought I wasn't going to make it to puberty. I was a runt, much smaller than any of the other kids in my grade, and the perfect target for bullying. Girls wanted nothing to do with me, and I always felt like the people I called friends were only there because they pitied me. My father was a soldier, and I wanted nothing more than to be like him. But I was too small, too weak, too sickly to join the army. But even after the serum, I was just a propaganda stunt to promote bond sales. Then I went in the ice and woke up 75 years later. Everyone I knew and loved is gone."

"My father was a brilliant scientist," Bruce takes his turn next, looking down at where his hands are clasped in his lap, "But he thought that all his experimenting had effected me in some way. He thought I was a monster, and nothing my mom said or did would change his mind. He'd get drunk and beat her until she could barely stand, blaming her for everything that went wrong in his work. And when he was done with her, he'd move on to me. He shot my mom in cold blood. Beat me until I was too scared to tell anyone about it. But his ego got the better of him. He bragged about killing her to one of his colleagues. He went crazy in prison. But he's the reason I became a doctor. He always told me I was a monster, so I wanted to prove him wrong. Instead... I turned myself into the monster he always said I was."

They all look to Natasha, as she is the only one left who hasn't spoken. She glares at them for several moments, then sighs and lowers her head in defeat.

"I had a happy childhood for the most part," her voice is low and almost inaudible when she finally speaks, "Then our house caught fire when I was eight, killing both my parents. My uncle, a friend of the family, put me in a boarding school. But it was more than that. It was a place where they took young girls and trained them to be assassins. They took everything I loved and twisted it into something evil. Ballet became seduction techniques, gymnastics became martial arts. They made me into an emotionless killer before I'd even had my first kiss. The punishments for disobedience were high, some girls never recovered. You either obeyed, or you were no longer useful for their purposes."

The room is silent for several minutes once again, no one having any idea what to say to the revealed information. Then Tony stands and stretches his arms toward the ceiling.

"I think that's enough group therapy for the rest of ever. Good talk. Let's do it again never," he says with a credible attempt at a smile.

"Agreed," Steve says, standing as well, "And Tony..."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't bring strange things home. I got it," Tony responds before Steve can start in on him.

"Hey, Tony," Clint starts as he stands and heads to the kitchen, looking over his shoulder, "You still want to play doctor?"

The book nearly misses Clint's head as he ducks into the kitchen.

***

Several weeks later, after removing the strange stone from the mansion and putting it in lock up, (which Jane and Phil had both insisted be done immediately and hadn't let any of the Avengers speak to each other again until it was gone,) and after being cleared by Dr. Selvig, and several psychiatrists, they finally go on a mission, fighting a strange group of bug monsters. Phil is in the jet, having told Fury that either he made him the Avengers' handler, or he was going to quit and run point for them anyway. Fury had agreed. They are in the middle of the fight when Steve barely manages to dodge an attack, rolling into an over turned car.

"Shit!" Steve yells.

"Dad! Steve said a bad word!" Tony says in jest, as he takes out another bug.

"Excuse me?!" Steve shouts, startled by the comment.

"Boys! What have I told you about fighting? Save it for the monsters," Phil retorts with a smile in his voice.

Both Steve and Tony laugh at Phil's response, and the team finishes dispatching the monsters in record time, glad to be back in the field.

Later that evening, while Jane is making dinner, Clint is sitting on the couch eating a candy bar when Jane walks in and takes it out of his hand.

"No candy. You'll spoil your dinner," she says, then freezes, realizing what she's said and done.

"But, Mom!" Clint replies, pouting up at her, though she can see the smile beneath it.

She leans down and gives him a kiss on the top of his head.

"You can eat it after dinner," she tells him, taking the candy into the kitchen and leaving it on the counter.

***

If you were to ask any of the Avengers what had changed since their childhood adventure, they would tell you that nothing is different. Have, in fact, told their psychiatrists the very same. And to the outside observer, nothing _has_ changed. The only reminder of their time spent as children is a framed picture of them in their Avengers costumes with Jane and Phil at Disneyland, surrounded by several shelves of the things that were the most important to them as children. Steve's inhaler and several of his drawings; Tony's spider robot and his Disney autograph book; Thor's Mjolnir toy; Bruce's neurology book; Clint's toy bow and his 'wizard supreme' hat; and Natasha's Jasmine tiara from her dress-up outfit. (The rest of the toys and children's books were all donated to various orphanages and foster homes in the city.)

But the Avengers are vehement in their insistence that nothing has changed. They might quip about things, tease each other on occasion, with the comeback always being "We were five!", but nothing, _nothing_ has changed.

When Clint enters the room and the volume on the TV mysteriously gets turned down, no one says a word. And when Tony shows Clint a new set of hearing aides he's made for the archer that can be controlled using his phone, no one comments on it.

If Steve and Bruce are sitting in the living room reading when the rest of the team comes in for the evening, Tony no longer grabs the remote and turns on something loud, causing one, or both of his teammates to leave for quieter spaces. He simply grabs his tablet or a book of his own, and the others do the same, spending the evening in comfortable silence.

There are no more comments about Natasha needing to show more emotion, and when they catch her watching a romantic comedy one evening, no one says a word. They simply take their seats and join her.

When something awful happens on a mission, or something in his lab isn't working right and Tony is sitting on the couch watching something loud and obnoxious, trying to clear his head, someone always joins him, sitting a little closer than necessary, and maybe even pulling his head into their lap.

If Thor gets confused by some earth custom or phrase, the response is quieter now, more educational than condemning. And no one mentions the fact that they are always there when he leaves for, and comes back from Asgard.

There are always jokes, and quips, and comments, and a moderate amount of snarking at each other when they go on missions, but there is far less conversation about who needs to go where and do what. Everyone always has someone's back, and someone always has theirs.

They eat more meals together as a family, and when someone has a bad day, there is always a hug for them if they need it. The couch suddenly fits more people than it use to, and comforting hands are always present on troubled shoulders.

No. Nothing at the Avengers Mansion has changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end!
> 
> Let me know what you thought of the story in the comments! I love hearing from you guys!


	9. The 'Bad' Ending

For six months, Selvig, Richards, and Strange work tirelessly on finding a way to reverse what’s happened to the Avengers. Peter Quill calls in regularly with updates on his own fruitless search, and Odin visits two more times to add to the giant pile of nothing they’ve managed to accumulate in the months spent trying to solve the problem. NO ONE knows what the stone is, how it works, or how to reverse it. And suddenly, the ship full of children they’d found it on starts to make a little more sense.

At the end of the six months, Fury visits the mansion and has a meeting with Phil and Jane. He explains that he can no longer spare the resources necessary to continue looking for a cure. It makes sense, and they know it. SHIELD has work to do, work that requires the resources and assets that have been tied up for the last long while in trying to help the Avengers. So, with a heavy heart, Fury tells them that the search for a solution is over, and takes the stone back to HQ to be stored in their vault. A few days later, they dress the kids up in their best black clothes, and they head to the cemetery, where SHIELD is having a funeral service for the superhero team known as The Avengers.

It’s a somber affair. Most of the people in attendance don’t know what actually happened to the team. They believe the lie Fury had told both them and the world when the team had fallen off the grid. He said that the Avengers had gone to assist the Guardians of the Galaxy, and unfortunately, that assistance had claimed all of their lives.

The world goes back to something resembling normal after the funeral. It continues to spin on in the absence of the Avengers. But for the little family living at the Avenger’s mansion, time seems to have stopped.

After the funeral is over and they've returned home, Phil takes Jane to his bedroom while the kids play quietly in the play room, and pulls the box of rings out of his pocket. Tears stream down her face as she nods in response to his silent question. Three days later, they are married in a tiny church on the outskirts of the city, and Dr. Jane Foster becomes Mrs. Jane Coulson. They both cry during the ceremony, their kiss as brief as is possible. Both Phil and Jane cry themselves to sleep that night, alone in their own beds.

Even though the mansion belonged to Tony, and now to Pepper Potts, Phil and Jane both decide they can't raise the children there. It is too much of a reminder of what had been, and will break them slowly if they stay. Pepper purchases them a good sized piece of land in a new suburban development just outside of Richmond, Virginia, and they design a new home. They take JARVIS with them, getting Tony's help for transplanting the AI, whose help has been, and will continue to be, life saving. Pepper sets up a bank account for them, putting in a monthly allowance each month, so that neither parent has to work.

But staying home and doing nothing only proves doable for the next year. They home school the kids, bringing all of them up a grade, though Tony and Bruce are still well above average. The children then start public school at grade two, and Jane starts work as their teacher. Education had seemed a good fit for her, and Pepper had made it happen, making a sizable donation to the school. Phil starts a new job as well, though he opts to work from home, doing data analysis and economic prediction reports for Stark Industries. The main factor in both his and Jane’s choices for careers, is that they’d made a promise that at least one parent would be home when the kids get home from school, so that they never feel like their parents are abandoning them for work.

Overall, the kids have a very happy childhood, and after the first year, Phil and Jane have completely adapted to their new lives as parents, though occasionally they can both be caught looking at old photographs.

Tony, ever the genius inventor, finishes high school at the age of fifteen, and goes on to MIT, getting degrees in both engineering and computer science. He never sells any of his inventions, opting to use his engineering degree to further his own hobbies, and starts his own company at the age of eighteen, making and selling the best computer security program on the market. AEC, the name of his software, which he pronounces 'ace' and is quite proud of the fact that he turned his initials into a cool sounding name, ends up being the most widely used security software the world has ever known, and becomes legendary for its unhackability.

Steve goes to art school following high school, but ends up changing his major to education sometime in the first year. He ends up teaching art at their high school. He still draws on his own, and the house's walls are almost completely decorated in his artwork, though the family picture from Disneyland, with all the kids in their Avengers costumes still hangs prominently over the fireplace. He never recovers from his asthma, though it does get a little better as he ages, and he struggles being the smallest person for his age. Though he never has a problem with bullies at school, as his brothers and sister put an end to any insults long before they ever reach his ears. 

Clint's love of archery never fades. He joins the school archery club at age twelve, much to his father's chagrin, and he goes on to become an olympic archer, winning five gold medals before deciding to quit competing and start coaching other archers. When Clint is seventeen, several agents from SHIELD show up to recruit the up and coming archery star, and are turned away. They show up a second time a few months later, but quickly leave when Phil puts a bullet through one of their legs, and they never bother the archer's family again. At fifteen, Phil catches Clint and Natasha playing doctor again, but instead of the lecture they are expecting, Phil tells them that they need to wait until they are eighteen. After all, they aren't related, but if anyone were to ever find out about them being together while they are minors, then Phil and Jane would be the ones in trouble. Phil knows he probably should have given them the lecture they'd been expecting, but he simply couldn't bear to keep them apart. Just because he couldn't be with them, is no reason they shouldn't be together.

Natasha, though skilled in gymnastics, decides she prefers dance, and takes several ballet classes throughout school. She goes on to join a ballet troupe, and studies at the New York School of Dance. She performs, but only locally, opting to open her own studio and teach young girls rather than take a spot on the stage. She smiles and laughs as she tells her family about the antics the children in her class get up to, and it warms Phil's heart to see her so happy. She and Clint marry when they're twenty, though they never have any kids of their own.

Bruce finishes high school the same year as Tony, but he opts to go to medical school. He becomes a full fledged doctor at the age of twenty two, a year ahead of schedule. He opens a small pediatrician's practice in his home town, and loves helping little children get better. He writes several books on the application of child psychology to pediatric practice, and is often invited to speak at medical conferences, though he rarely accepts, preferring to actually treat patients, rather than simply talk about treating them.

Thor attends school with the other children until he is also fifteen, then Odin shows up at the house unannounced one evening and tells them it's time for him to come home and begin his warrior's training. Jane locks herself in her room for a week before Phil makes her come out and be a part of the family again. Thor still visits every Christmas and once during the summer, spending at least two or three weeks with his adoptive guardian family, and the kids all look forward to seeing him every time.

Clint and Natasha are the only two that find a partner and get married. The others date people, but no one ever feels right to them, and the relationships soon fizzle out. And though most of them go away for college following high school, they all return once they have their degrees and live in their childhood home with their parents, not caring who thinks it's weird to live at home at their age. Being together as a family is the most important thing in their lives, neighborhood opinions be damned.

***

One night, when the kids are in their mid-forties, Phil and Jane are driving home from having dinner with some friends, when they are hit by a drunk driver and killed. After their funeral service, the kids are all sitting silently around the dining room table when there's a knock on the front door. An old African American man with an eyepatch, wearing a dark leather trench coat stands on the porch. None of them can remember seeing him before, and he doesn't introduce himself. He simply says he was an old friend of their dad's and hands them a box before leaving just as mysteriously as he came.

When they open the box there are six files inside, and a flash drive. The files all have names on them: Anthony Edward Stark 'Ironman'; Steven Grant Rogers 'Captain America'; Thor Odinsson; Clinton Francis Barton 'Hawkeye'; Robert Bruce Banner 'Hulk'; Natasha Alianova Romanov 'Black Widow.'

Confused, as the names on the files are their own, but with different last names, and they know the codenames to be those of the superheroes who had died when they were young, they put in the flash drive and see a video of their dad, telling them about what _really_ happened to the superhero team called The Avengers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought! I love hearing from you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS NOT A PHIL/JANE STORY! AT ALL! They are simply accepting the roles they got put into. They are friends, and nothing is going to change about that or develop between them.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!


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